Exception in Life
by cffn
Summary: Cloud, the lone wolf. Squall, the brooding idiot. Get them together and see what life brings along.
1. Episode 1

Don't own, don't sue.

Cloud x Squall

Post-AC, a mixture of FFVII, VIII and KH2.

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><p>Episode 1<p>

Cloud

The radio was on, headphones pouring the sounds straight into his head. He was nodding, against his will, at times to the beat only to stop irritated when noticing himself getting a little too lazy with his task. The task was to clean up his desk, the surroundings of it so he could fit his bed there finally too. Tifa had been more than polite -in that, I'll shove this fist right up your ass- kind of way- to tell him to move into his own room so she could get some privacy. Cloud didn't oppose the idea, he just hadn't really been around to think of such thing.

So, here he was on Friday night, cleaning up the space while Tifa was keeping the bar downstairs packed with people and the amount of people there was.. they made such horrific noise Cloud was unable to concentrate on anything with that in the background. Hence the headphones.

He was rummaging through a pile of papers, standing beside the desk when he again noticed he was nodding along with the beat. He paused for a moment to actually listen.

_/Have you ever noticed,/_ he went on with the papers, fiddling them idly. /_That I'm not acting as I used to do before?/ _He snorted softly and stuck the irrelevant papers into the trashcan. _/Have you ever wondered,/_ It didn't take many steps to walk across the small space of his room-to-be. _/Why I always keep on coming back for more?/_ He felt tired and wanted to forget the past, completely. It controlled his thoughts too much, even now. It was just that he didn't know how to deal with days with nothing apocalyptic hanging over his head all the time. Made him feel useless.

_/What have you done to me,/_ The beat got stronger and Cloud felt himself moving along with the music slightly. _/I'll never be the same I'll tell you for sure/_ Well damn true that one! There was something irresistible about this song, he felt light for some odd reason; giddy almost. And that was enough to make him believe him to be sick. But he was the ultimate hero, he couldn't be sick!

_/You really are my ecstasy,/_ Walking towards the window of the room he swayed his hips a little. _/My real life fantasy (oh yeah)/_ Lifting his hands in the mid-air he took few steps to his side, moving together now with the bass pumping into his head. _/Not that I'm complaining,/_ He closed his eyes, careful not to make too much noise -not that it was possible from anyone downstairs to hear him- Cloud danced in the middle of the little room. _/A more beautiful vision - I have never seen/_ He spun around, hands higher in the air, fingers meeting above his spiky hair, his whole body moving with rhythm. _/If you don't mind me saying,/_ He closed his eyes and danced on the floor silently, socks deafening the sound enough. _/A lifelong ambition to fulfill my dream/_ Feeling of relief washed thru his mind; the worries and packing and cleaning and trying to be the perfect being far from his mind for once.

_/You really are my ecstasy,/_ Cloud was hypnotized by the simplicity of the lyrics, noting he could remember them already. So he sang along. Softly first, moving more boldly and rocking his slender body, singing with eyes still closed, arms going up and down his sides, slightly touching his face and hair at times. _/My real life fantasy (oh yeah)/_ He was getting so into this, that he managed to get a little exhausted. The room had started to feel very hot. _/You really are my ecstasy/_ HEwas feeling rather hot. Not just the body heat, but he felt HOT, like looking really good at the moment. Which, obviously, was a rather unknown feeling for Cloud. _/My real life fantasy (oh yeah)/_

He swayed, rocked with the beat, hips doing all the talking while his lips were trying to sing the lyrics. A part of him knew how ridiculous he might look, since the music was playing for himself only, but oddly enough, he didn't really care. There was only the soft feeling of giddiness, the knowledge he looked damn good while doing things like this with his worked-up body and the music in his ears. It was unusual for him to feel good, so light and careless; it was so relaxing. He almost understood why people liked to dance almost every weekend. Well, almost. He surely wouldn't want anyone to see him doing this!

The song was reaching it's final moments and Cloud slowed his pace on the floor, walking towards the window to look out into the darkness and raindrops hitting the glass. He noted his reflection to look a tad thin and somehow small, his hair somehow less messy than usual.. No, wait. What?

Cloud turned around to the door only to find one certain redhead standing there, leaning on the door frame, those thin lips forming an o and eyes wide open staring at him. Cloud felt his cheeks starting to burn and he jerked the headphones off from his ears. For a moment neither said a thing. There was the crowds voice from downstairs, the pitter-patter of rain against the window and two candles lighting the two men in the small room. Finally Cloud coughed.

"Like what you saw?" He raised his eyebrow slightly, tilting his head a bit. Reno's o turned into a wicked grin.

"Hell yeah." The redhead smiled and bowed his head a little to just gaze at the floor a while. "Didn't know you could also sing, along with the ability to save the world when needed."

Cloud snorted softly. "There are actually many things you still don't know about me, Reno."

Reno's turn to raise his eyebrow. "Oh, the mighty Strife has other skills too? I'm impressed, yo. Maybe you should share the info, might get your reputation as a first-class up-tight moper to fade a little." The man folded his arms before him and gave Cloud a glare that could've drilled a hole into his head. Cloud just gave the other a half-smile and walked slowly, silently and very sensually over to face Reno quite close and leaned in, to whisper with a low voice.

"It wouldn't be so much fun if you know everything beforehand." His warm breath hit the others ear and neck and Cloud was certain he nearly saw Reno shiver for this. The blond smiled quietly and blew more air on the clearly sensitive skin. "You'd be surprised how vocal I actually am." Cloud noticed how close he was to the other man as he could smell the scent of that sweet looking skin, making a note on how good the smell was. And why exactly was he even noticing this? Reno was not the guy he would jump onto, not even if they were the last people on earth.

Reno made a small noise for the last comment, apparently either trying not to laugh or just trying to hold himself down for, who knows what for. "Mm.. Naughty boy, no matter how many times you've saved the day (or world), you Mr. Strife, are a naughty tease who should... " The sentence was cut in the middle by Tifa who was running upstairs. Cloud pulled back into room quickly, his cheeks burning a little when his mind filled the rest of Reno's sentence and being embarrassed of the trail of his thoughts. He could not be this badly in need of intimacy that he would consider about the redhead? It had to be the dancing that made him feel funny. And say funny stuff. Damn!

"Hey! Reno, you are not trying to cause a scene again are you?" Tifa stormed next to the redhead who was looking now a little annoyed.

"No, I was trying to hit on your boyfriend and maybe drag him out for a night of heat." Cloud stifled a laugh and turned away from the door hearing Tifa taking a sharp breath and obviously creating a counter-attack. "Sheesh, Tifa! Gimme some credit, huh? I just came to say hello to old Spiky here." Cloud heard the smile in Reno's voice and saw Tifa's reflection in the window. She was shuffling her feet and trying to figure what to say while glaring them both.

"Yeah, Tifa.. Give Reno some credit. He can't really get me in the mood with just saying Hello." Cloud turned around to face the two and smirked knowingly, right hand resting now on his hip. Reno raised his eyebrow as if not believing that Cloud would be so playful with him, and in front of Tifa of all people! The girl just snorted at them both and mumbled something about 'boys and their crappy egos' and stormed off as fast as she had appeared.

It took a minute of utter silence, before Reno burst into laughter and Cloud managed to smile deviously. "Dude, that was like.. almost cruel!" Reno smirked and winked at the blond who, clearly again missed the innocent flirt.

"Well, she's the one driving me into sleeping alone, so I guess I can be a little cruel at her."

"Whoa, she does? I'm impressed you actually complied with her, yo." Reno tilted his head to his side a little questioning. "So.. she ain't your girl then, I suppose?"

"No." That was the truth, no matter how there might have been something else in the past. Tifa was a good friend and a solemn rock in his life but now.. They needed to have their private lives too. "Just friends." Reno remained unusually quiet, studying Cloud from afar. It was the blond's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Why are you here, anyway?"

Reno let his gaze roam over the blond's frame, appreciating all the finely tuned muscles and he felt his thoughts to drift slowly to somewhere they weren't suppose to drift.. He snapped back to reality when the object of his observations coughed. "Oh! Right! I DID have something for you." He grinned and plucked a flier out of his suit jacket's pocket, handing it to the other. "I kinda was thinking, you know, that since you've moped inside the house for a longer while than its really healthy for you, you might need a change and get out." The redhead waved his hand, his gesture depicting the room they were in.

Cloud took the paper and tried to make some sense out of it. It made none. He raised an eyebrow again and looked at Reno who was, for a reason unknown to him, smiling.. proudly? "And this is.. a what?" It was brightly neon-colored and had so many different circles and lines printed on it, it made Cloud want to just put the damn thing away. Reno chuckled.

"It's a flier, dumbass!" Cloud's face remained unchanged. "Dude, turn it over." Cloud did as suggested and found more bright colors but this time there was also something written there.

"..." He still was unable to figure why this was important. "It seems there's a happening at the Y!-club tomorrow. And this has something to do with me?" He shot a puzzled look at the other who was still smiling furiously, the red tattoos highlighting the happy glimmer in those green eyes. Cloud had never understood why anyone would want to tattoo their face like that. But somehow it suited Reno.

"Yeah! Spikes, I am here to invite you to the grand-opening for the new DJ there." Reno grinned, stuffing his hands to his pockets and leaning his body to the door frame, hips a little more forward than the rest of his body. He gave Cloud a teasing look -which of course was enough to make Cloud to avert his ogling at the lithe body- and winked. "Come on, Spiky, I guarantee you'll love it!"

He was absentminded with the weird thought of actually getting out for fun, the thought was so unnatural for him. He found himself anyway nodding in response. "Sure, Reno. Why not.."

"NICE!" Reno clapped his hands together in excitement and pushed himself off the door only to just turn to look at the blond man with mischievous look on his cat-like face. "And Spikes.." Cloud was getting an overdose of the unfunny nickname and frowned. " .. try to dig your wardrobe a bit deeper sometimes, yo. People are thinking you never change your attire, nor take a bath -not that you smell bad, like.. ever-." With a whoosh of air, the giddily whooping man was gone, leaving the dumbfounded blond to gather his thoughts.

Exactly, what just happened..? And people were actually thinking of him..? Oh boy.

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><p>"No, I am NOT gonna let you go out in those clothes!" Tifa slammed her fist to the wall and Cloud pondered for a moment if there would be a hole -again- to be fixed. "Cloud, honestly.. You never, ever go out for FUN so why wouldn't you just take everything out of it and actually change your clothes! Just for shits'n'giggles?" Tifa's glare was something Cloud couldn't escape, so he just lowered his stare to the floor and sighed.<p>

"Fine. I'll wear something else than these tonight."

He was so utterly defeated it made him grit his teeth! Women.. and their way to your closet. Damn. Round X -dear gods, he wasn't able to count the times anymore!- ; Tifa 1 - Cloud 0. He watched in terror as the girl pulled his neatly folded clothing out of the closet, spreading them on his finally moved bed.

"Seriously Cloud, you have nothing but army-blue or black here!" Cloud sighed again. This would be a long, long afternoon.

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><p>It was unnecessary to say it, but he really, really didn't like crowded places. It was much more easier to avoid those places and go to be in peace somewhere else. He was about to turn on his heels and run from the scene when he felt the phone in his pocket to vibrate.<p>

_'Yo Spiky, get that ass of yours to the bouncers and I'll get you in!' -Reno_

No turning back now, since it seemed that Reno had seen him standing on the sidewalk, a bit further from the club doors, to where there was a small line gathering. Cloud took a deep breath and marched straight to where he saw a flash of red hair jumping up and down. No mistake there, none other could be so damned hyper at this hour but Reno. And the man was supposed to be older than he was..

Rude, very unsurprisingly, was doing the bouncing in and nodded only to the blond who found himself being suddenly pulled inside the club by the redhead. "H-hey Reno, slow down!" He was about to fall on his face, being surprised by the eager pulling. Reno just smirked over his shoulder and kept going thru the mass of people. Cloud didn't have too much time to see what kind of club it was, but it was rather big and dark colored.

Finally stopping, when they reached a darker corner inside the club. Having gone thru a lot of people, drunk or less, dancing or just standing in groups to chat (more like yell over the music), Cloud welcomed the quiet area. Reno turned to face him when he slumped onto the sofa, his eyes widening a bit now that he had the time to see the blond fully.

"Wow, man. You look awesome!" Cloud saw, and felt, Reno's eyes just about eating his figure out. Yeah, he did look quite good in his black baggy pants -not the usual ones!-, pieces of D-hooks sewn here and there, loose strips of fabric hanging from those. Tifa had made him to wear a white sleeveless tank top which she had found somewhere, the fabric hugging his torso not too tightly, suggesting that there was a firm body under. In the dim and flashing lights his skin seemed to radiate some surreal light. Not to mention his eyes.. Piercing blue, that were sucking you inside their abyss.

Reno tried to figure why there was a weird look on Cloud's face and why he had a feeling that someone was sitting next to him on the couch.. "Ah, damn! Hey Cloud, I wanted you to meet my friend!" He bounced back up and turned to face the dark figure sitting. "Angsty world-savior meet Brooding Bastard! And the other way round too."

There were two similar frowns first, both obviously sprung from the badly used nicknames. Cloud was the first to cut the silence and to give out his hand for a handshake for the man who had risen from the darkness of the corner. And my, my.. what a man it was!

Now that the blinking and changing lights gave out more of the figure, Cloud saw a leather clad legs, white t-shirt covering the upper torso, a hint of tanned skin peeking from the collar, two very nicely muscled arms and reaching the face of the other, he saw nothing but a damn handsome and too-pretty-for-your-own-good features -not even that scar made him look bad, just more intimidating, which was damned hot-, on top of this package there was a soft mass of brown locks, gathered on a loose ponytail to the neck. The most striking feature were the eyes, looking rather like liquid silver in this lighting, which were searching his body in the same manner now. Cloud felt his cheeks burning.

"Cloud Strife." A strong hand took a hold of his hand and shook it gently.

"Squall Leonhart. Also answer to Leon." The brunet's voice was low even in this noisy surrounding. Reno watched this little scene with a look that said I-know-better-than-you and smirked deviously.

"Oh, stop being so damned formal." Reno snorted to the serious faces of the other two. "You guys want anything to drink? It's on me!"

"I'm fine." The blond wasn't sure where to look and shuffled on his feet, avoiding Squall's tight legs, noticing just a little too late how comfortably the fabric hugged those thighs, making him wonder how well it looked from behind.. He moved his eyes to Reno, just to see that grin on his friends face, before it vanished in to the heated air. Squall was also shaking his head, sitting back down. Reno shrugged and took a look at his watch.

"Actually, I've gotta run about now anyway. Only 15 minutes time to get my shit together! Gotta make the preparations. Y'all be okay here, both? Not gonna run away as soon as I turn my back, hm?" He turned to face the two men, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Or try to form an angsty corner here?" He grinned slightly, knowing fully well his friends to find more in common than they wanted, it was only a matter of time in the end.. Which he, didn't really have right now.

Cloud pondered for a moment, never getting the chance to say anything before Squall opened his mouth.

"He'll be fine here with me, just go or you'll be late." Would he really be ok, was the question. Could he really be comfortable when he didn't even know should he sit down or not! Reno sighed in obvious relief and smiled victoriously, leaving in a way only Reno was capable of leaving; a hassle and bumping into various people on his way shouting sorry happily. Cloud let out a sigh and figured he should sit down or else he'd look like an idiot -if not already- and trying to decide what to do with his hands.

"Where was he going anyway?"

"You mean you don't know?" Cloud turned his head to see Squall's surprised look and shook his spiked head. "Well, that isn't really so surprising.. But that one there is the reason why he had to go." The blond followed the direction where a finger was pointed and saw a DJ's booth on a small stand, near the dance floor. He felt even more confused.

"Uh.. He had to go because of the DJ?" If that was the case then Reno had even worse taste in men that he had thought. Not that the slightly slimy looking, rather well-fed teenagers were to come up to meet Reno's level of interest.. He more heard than saw his companion to make a small laughter. Impressive, that one could laugh without actually looking like doing so.

"No.. I think he prefers a little bit cleaner guys than that. And probably older too. I think Anthony is only 17 still."

"What, 17?" Cloud took a moment to try to look at the DJ -which was rather hard to do when the lights were what they were-. "But I agree.. Even Reno wouldn't go for the under-aged, I guess." He snorted, which was the closest thing he could manage to a smile at the moment. He felt as stiff as if there was a rigid pole stuck up his bottom, that much of the nervous wreck he felt like while sitting so near this new person, who had captured his attention with very little effort.

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><p>AN

_Whoa, okay. Finally starting to upload this thing here. Am missing some comments and opinions here, so if you like the start then I'll keep on uploading the rest (believe me, there is more.. so much more...). The whole story isn't yet finished completely, but I'm getting there._


	2. Episode 2

Episode 2

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><p>Squall<p>

"Hey Leon! Get your arse over here and help me to move this bloody thing!" The brunet had just stepped into the brightly lit club, still not open for customers and saw a certain redhead trying to move one of the biggest amp's alone. He snickered under his breath. Reno was looking like he'd soon kick the object in fury. Squall hurried his steps to help.

"You shouldn't try to lift anything this heavy since you're such a girl." Reno shot a murderous glare at his friend.

"Oh shut the -Argh! Dun you fucker dare to drop on my toes! You filthy shit!- fuuuck up Leon and take the other side!" The redhead tried to balance the huge block of machinery with a little success. Squall took a pity at him finally and easily lifted the amp from the floor and Reno's trembling hands. The exhausted man shot yet another killer-glare at the others effortless lifting. "Show-off..."

"Yeah yeah, shut your pie hole. Where do you want this?"

"Over there, near the stand at the edge of the dance floor." Reno pointed at the DJ's booth where he made his way too, climbing on the stand to fiddle with all the wires and machines. Squall moved the amp to its place and glanced at his friend. The smaller man had that enthusiastic look his pretty, cat-like features again. It was no miracle no one could take Reno seriously with his face so smooth as it was. Even he had hard time believing the man was legal.

"You still look like you are not more than 15 years old." Reno looked up, down at his stoic-faced companion.

"And you still look like you could use a good fuck, you stiff old prick." Reno blew an air-kiss at Squall who just raised his brow. "Oh yeah, I'm gonna have a friend of mine here tonight. He's kinda skittish, and I don't want him fleeing before I get my job done, so I was like.. wondering, since you do practically nothing but read, exercise and work, if you could keep his skinny ass still."

"Sure, I was gonna be here anyway."

"Nice! I'm sure you two will get along. " Reno's smirk widened to a grin. "He's the lone wolf-type too and hates masses. A pretty boy, also." Squall snorted softly, watching the club and its employees working in silence, ignoring the redhead's comments about him.

"And that is suppose to be important to me, because..?"

"Hell, I know you like the pretty ones. You wouldn't be my friend if you didn't!" Reno burst into giggles and Squall managed to actually smile this time.

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><p>The brunet sat in the corner of the club, which was like a completely new world now that everything was in its place and the lights were correct. Anthony had started to warm up the people gathering inside with his easy going top-charts set. He ran his long fingers thru his mane of hair, tying it on a loose ponytail, few locks falling on his face. This was his first free night in a while, he had gone to do his training and nearly had missed being here early. He seriously hated being late from anywhere, so it was miracle that he and the hyperactive redhead were even friends, since Reno had the habit of being late always. Just like tonight, it seemed.<p>

"Yo, grumpypants!" Or not late.. Squall sighed heavily.

"When will you grow up, Reno?" The said man stood there, next to the couch Squall was sitting, and tried to make a pondering face.

"Mmm.. Never?" The redhead flashed a horribly wide and immature smile. "I'm gonna go and try to find that friend of mine and get him here, my turn will be in less than 30minutes already." He was nearly jumping on his feet. "Oh man, I'm so exited!" The brunet was merely looking amused, slowly a corner of his mouth lifting, but only so lightly it wasn't much to see. Reno took off with a wave of his hand and disappeared into the midst of people, leaving the other with his thoughts again.

He enjoyed his aura that said to anyone just to piss off, because he had no interest to chitchat about shit with anyone he most definitely was not interested in. So, he sat there in his glorious solitude, hidden in the shadows, people passing him with ease, not many seeing more than a reserved area with a dark figure alone leaning against the couch. Minutes passed, Squall tapping his boots to the table when there was a good beat heard, thinking new stuff to use at work.

This was where he was, when Reno returned with his companion. This was where the piss-off-aura of Squall's disappeared as he was allowed to see one of the gracious sights in while. Hell.. ever! The young man with the redhead was so stunningly handsome it made him feel like an ugly duckling. The blond spiky hair -how on earth it managed to look so healthy and still point into every direction up?-, that pale skin illuminated by the lights, black pants hanging from the narrow hips, white tank top giving out the hint of finely tuned body under. And the eyes.. those brilliant blue abysses. He basically had just sold his soul to this person. Reno had slammed his skinny ass down onto the sofa, clearly not remembering Squall's presence.

"Ah, damn! Hey, Cloud I wanted you to meet my friend!" Reno bounced back up and turned to face the dark figure sitting. "Angsty-world savior meet Brooding-Bastard! And the other way round too."

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><p>As Reno had again ran away the brunet found himself so very uncomfortably alone with the blond beauty. He was so honest-to-gods-bad at talking nonsense with anyone, usually it took several years to get more than three sentences out of him. But now he really wanted to say something, to hear more of Cloud's voice, to see him looking at him, making his knees weak and be grateful for the couch, because without it.. he would've been on the floor limp as a cooked macaroni. Luckily he saw how uncomfortable the blond was also, so maybe they'd be better in silence. No way! He refused to stay quiet this time, seriously! Lady Fortune smiled at his way this time as Cloud was the one to break the silence between them.<p>

"Where do you know Reno? He's never spoken of you, not to me at least." Cloud had turned his magnificent gaze upon Squall again, who felt like squeeing -very not like him at all!-. He had to swallow before answering and blinked.

"We share a hobby, which sort of is my job too, and few friends. He was my apprentice by some unfortunate turns of event." He half-smiled, remembering the first time he had met the hyperactive man. "He's rather hard to get rid off once he settles down next to you." There was no hint of affection in his tone, though he did really care for Reno, no matter how much they scowled always at each other.

"Yeah.. I've noticed the same thing." They both shared similar small smiles, ghosting in the corners of their mouths. Cloud's eyes seemed to reach into his soul, to take it hostage and lock into cage, keys thrown away. Oh man, he was hopelessly falling, and so damned fast. "What is your job then?" A question asked in reserved tone, perhaps the other was as bad at this as he was.

"If I tell you I'll ruin Reno's surprise.." Squall turned his eyes towards the booth where Anthony and Reno were making a fuss about, well.. seemed like a war more, seen from this side. Cloud sighed. "Ask me again in 5minutes, if it is not clear by then." He turned and offered the blond man a rare thing; a smile. Cloud seemed to blink few times and.. was that a blush on the pale cheeks? Hell, he was doomed so badly.

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><p>Cloud<p>

The blond wanted to say something so the last answer, but the smile offered to him kept him quiet. It was like the brunet's face had lit up completely, smoothing the frowns and the straight line of the lips -they seemed to be so much softer and fuller while smiling- disappeared. He had to blink few times before he even regained any of his logic. Soon his thoughts registered a new voice, pushing its way to his brains.

"Goooooooooood evening people! Hope you are having fun already and are ready for the newest member of the Y-club's DJ's! Give it out for the amazing, the truly fabulous and fuckable Rrrrenoooo!" The slightly drunken and dancing people gave out a cheering and applauding as Anthony moved away to make way for the redhead. All Cloud could do was stare. He heard a soft movement next to him and startled as a cool fingers tapped gently his jaw.

"Close your mouth, you're not a fish after all." The brunet had moved closer, had touched his jaw and all Cloud could to at this was to blush furiously. "Though you'd be heck of a cute fish though." Squall seemed to chuckle, which was enough to make the blond to avert his eyes off from the steely gaze.

"..." He just couldn't say a thing. He wasn't able to! Lucky for him there was a roar of laughter in the speakers as Reno had taken over at the booth.

"YOOOOOOOOOO! Let's get hot and sweaty and all sexed up!" Cloud's mouth went dry as his mind went on thinking that last part. A sweaty and sexed up Squall. Holy shit.. He had almost forgotten that the other had moved so close to him their arms were an inch away from touching. As soon as Cloud had gathered his mind back together he noticed this, feeling the warmth radiating from the muscled arm next to his. Fuck! He had to clear his throat.

"So.. You are a DJ? A professional I gather, if you managed to teach Reno.." While Reno's choice of music seemed to be light dance and quick beats, cheery and easy to dance, the blond somehow could not fit that sort of music to this darker figure. The brunet was looking at the dance floor, the bodies moving to the rhythm, getting warm and lost into the beat.

"Yes, I am." Squall was looking at Reno again, who was wearing huge pair of headphones, his goggles on his forehead, thus making the man look a little like a funny cartoon character, red hair poking out to point where ever it wanted. Reno was jumping with the music he played, hands moving fast on the several buttons that controlled the music, looking suspiciously also like that pink bunny they inserted batteries and it just went on and on and on...

"Oh.." He was at his limits already, trying to figure what to talk about and the other seemed quite fixed on just looking at Reno working and being quiet. He let out a sigh and slumped his shoulders, which.. caused his arm to close that small inch between them. Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt the jolt of electricity spark because of the touch. "Um.. ah.. Are you sure you don't want anything to drink? I think I'm gonna get something!" The blond got up on his feet surprisingly swiftly and glanced at his now a little startled looking companion who was gazing at him with those silvery eyes of his, making the blond let out a soft squeak.

"Umh.. I.." For some rather unknown reason the image of the other resembling a growling lion hit Cloud's brains like a shot bullet. God, he was about to nosebleed soon. "Anything you take." Squall finally managed to form a sentence and Cloud took off quickly with barely noticeable nod.

Honestly! What the FUCK was wrong with him, jumping and flinching and acting like a under-aged little schoolgirl with a huge crush. Running off like that.. Sweet gods in heavens, it was so close he didn't actually run out of the club also. But it would only make him look like a chicken, which he - of course- was not and that was enough to make him determined to fight his raging hormones and behave a little bit more cool.

Somehow he managed his way to the bar with the thought of wanting some relaxation as fast as he could. It had been a while since he had touched alcohol. Which, necessarily wasn't such a bad thing, though now it might lead into a fast drunken state. And that would probably make him less of an arse . This in mind Cloud leaned over the counter.

"What can I get you?" The bartender leaned over towards the lost-looking blond on the other side.

"Tequila shot and two beers, please." Though he had the nagging memory of someone having said somewhere that it was all gonna go down the drain when the tequila was brought on table. Bloody hell, he didn't give a crap at the moment! He wanted to be a little more smooth, not the timid, moping dipshit. Come on Cloud! You are way cooler than most of the people around you. Get a grip Strife. NOW!

The drinks appeared before him and Cloud took the tequila, downing it with a quick move. He coughed once. Twice. He made a frown and looked like someone had stuck a peeled lemon up his rear. "Fuck!" The bartender just smiled widely, thinking how people usually made the most interesting faces with that particular shot. Amusing perks of the job.

Cloud rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, grabbed the beers and tried to make his way back towards the couch where he was destined to sit thru the evening alone with the most handsome and thrilling person he had encountered since.. ever. The alcohol warming his insides, reaching his stomach fast and making it do a little twist. Uh oh.. maybe it wasn't such a great idea to drink that tequila.

Without really paying attention to his surroundings, felt suddenly himself hitting against something, nearly knocking over the beverages. Aw, man.. He looked up seeing a tall man with a genuinely angry look his face and at the same time someone shoved him in the side and a third person said something the blond didn't quite catch.

"Watch it!" The tall man towering above him grunted, the blond trying to decide should he be amused, scared or just ignore the bastard.

"..." He really didn't want to engage himself into any kind of arguing with the other and his friends and simply just pushed himself pass the group. It seemed no matter where you were, there would always be a herd of idiots packed together, just looking for an excuse to start a fight over nothing. People really could be such an idiots sometimes.

He reached the couch without spilling the beers, noticing Squall's boots on the edge of the table as he leaned over to place the glasses to better safety than his trembling hands. Why did the other have to look so cool and.. cold? Enough interesting for him, of course. Why was it that always the emotionally shut people tend to attract him and never the nice and easy ones?

"Nice shoes.." He let out a small whistle, now that he had the chance to look closer. Black leather boots, clearly steel-caps, all covered with belts and silver rings, reaching up the nicely formed legs to the knees. He let his eyes wander ever higher, biting down a small longing sigh as he registered how tight the pants looked and.. "Here, I bought you a beer." He sat down, keeping a small distance this time, just to be sure not to jump up and run off again.

"Double thanks." Squall took the glass from the table, taking a small sip before placing it back. "I like your pants."

"Yeah? I got them from this small shop down the Twilight Boulevard."

"That explains why you like my boots, since they probably are from the same shop." A small smile appeared to the brunet's lips. He seemed to examine the blond for a while and ponder over something. Cloud felt his cheeks to gather some heat again. It would be nice if he could keep his blushing under control, but noo.. not possible tonight.

"What?"

"I was just thinking.. that you should come and see me at work sometime. I'm guessing you'd like the music." Cloud raised an eyebrow. Had he guessed right?

"I suppose you play a little different stuff than this is?" Squall made an interesting smirk and nodded.

"'A little' is kind of an understatement. But you should definitely come and see. I'm having a session tomorrow at the Salvation Club." The brunette reached to his pocket in front of his pants -how the heck was he even able to fit anything there!- and handed a flier to Cloud. Similar to the one Reno had given him, but this one was rather.. black, with hints of red flames on one corner. Simple design, just stating the name of the event, address and performers.

"Kingdom of Flesh?" The blond tried to imagine what to think of that, it sounded a little weird.

"Let me just say.. you'll be better off wearing completely black, something neon-colored or something, well.. plastic." Squall's face held an unreadable impression as he was looking at Cloud, who tried to evade that piercing gaze. Something plastic? Oh boy. He tried to turn his mind to something else and grabbed his beer, taking a large swig and ended up coughing as it got stuck somewhere on its way down his throat. Squall's look switched to worry as the blond tried not cough the liquid out of his mouth and nostrils.

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

As Cloud so suddenly disappeared towards the bar, Squall sighed frustrated and leaned his head to his hands. "I'm such a jerk!" The blond had tried to keep up the conversation and what did he do? The usual reserved and a tad unfriendly replying! He wasn't giving out a very good impression, that was clear, why else had the other jumped up so quickly? He was mentally kicking his own ass to the other side of the room, grunting as he leaned his back up against the sofa again. He had always been bad at making new friends, usually the few he had, had just somehow managed to get thru his expressionless demeanor and seen that he was actually, a nice guy. It was merely a fact that he was not used to trusting anyone so easily. But this time.. with this pretty blond. He was willing to - no.. more like aching to!- push his antisocial-self aside.

He saw the other returning before he could even see him properly, that blond hair was kind of easy to spot, even in this crowded space. When Cloud's face was visible, he looked little more than a little lost, that angelic face of his avoiding any kind of eye contact with anyone, even though people he passed were very obviously taking the second -or third- looks at him. It wasn't hard to figure that Cloud was uncomfortable in the midst of so many people. Quite a lot of like himself, too.

Squall took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, prepping himself to take his personality out of his ass and be more friendly.

* * *

><p>"..something, well.. plastic." He was pretty sure Cloud would look so damn hot in latex pants and in some little piece of ripped fabric over that definitely fine torso of his. The brunet was very hard trying to prevent the mental images flooding into his mind. He'd probably nosebleed if those would reach his brains. And then the blond decided to try to choke on his beer, which of course, sent him to the verge of panic.<p>

"Oi! Cloud, what the hell! Don't choke, spill it out if you need to!" Squall didn't know if hitting one to their back was actually a good idea but he didn't know what else to do as the other seemed to be in real distress.

The blond looked like he managed to swallow, face turning red as he coughed wet, painful sounding little coughs, teary eyes staring the floor, trying to get air to move into his lungs again. Squall kept rubbing Cloud's back soothingly as the other slowly regained his breath back to normal, leaving only hitched inhales behind.

"Any better? Should I get you some water instead?" He was already ready to rise up from the couch to retrieve the mentioned liquid but a hand suddenly touching him, interrupted his intentions.

The blond had set his hand on Squall's knee and was shaking his head, trying to find his voice from somewhere, eyes rising to meet the brunet's. It was unbelievable that someone could have eyes as bright blue as these eyes were. No matter when he was looking into them, he felt like he was about to drown into sweet oblivion.

Cloud's stare plead him desperately for Squall not to leave him alone there like this, not even for a glass of water. Melting under the glare, the brunet settled back down and rubbed the firm back, now noticing how well he could feel the muscle lines even thru the fabric, idly wondering if Cloud was working out much.

The blond hiccuped. Squall bit his lip to prevent himself from smiling. The other was so damn cute like that, like a kicked, lost puppy. Or a cat. Oh gods, he seriously needed to stop thinking this stuff that was coated with sugar and lined with pink! Cloud made a noise as if trying to say something, only managing to start coughing again.

"Hey, take your time. I am not going to leave you here in misery, don't worry." Squall offered the other a small hint of a smile on the corner of his lips and reached higher from Cloud's shoulders to ruffle those blond spikes. Oh wow, they were much more softer than they looked like. He marveled the feel without thinking what he was doing and stopped only when he noticed Cloud staring at him with a confused expression on his face. "Sorry.. Your hair is just kind of amazing. Couldn't help myself."

"Uh.. " Cough. "It's okay." Swallowing another cough and making an irritated face, Cloud shook his head, a hint of pink returning to his cheeks. "Impossible, if something. Just won't bend anywhere else no matter what I do." The blond inhaled deeply, without coughing and straightened his back, Squall returning his hand to his lap, fingertips slightly tingling, not knowing what to do next.

"Heh, I almost know what you mean. My hair was impossible when it was shorter, not that it's not annoying even now that I let it grow." Cloud raised his eyes to measure the brown mass of hair. "You know, no matter what, it always seems to let few strands over my face. Like these." He flicked the loose hair over his cheeks and eyes, trying to push them behind his ear, failing. Cloud smiled softly, the gesture lighting up the blond's gorgeous features. Who knew a simple smile could be so brightening!

"Maybe you should try pins." Something a little evil made its way to the blonds smile and the other looked at Squall with a glimpse of mischief. "Something pink, perhaps. Like little pink bow ties." The brunet was able to just stare at Cloud before he simply burst into laughter, the blond managing a wide smirk this time. "Aww, come on Squall.. You'd be a huge hit with the girls with those!" Squall chuckled and fiddled one of his untamed lock of hair, then deciding let all of his hair loose from then ponytail. Shoulder length brown mass fell down, covering his face partially.

"Well, it would be definitely a waste of time then." He shot a searching look at the other thru the veil of hair. Cloud's smirk had vanished and there was a frown forming. "I'm not trying to get the girls attention. You know.. at all. Ever. Unless they are my mother and that would be disturbing since she's dead." Gathering the loose hair back to his neck and tying them down he settled back against the couch again, crossing his long legs. Cloud licked his lips quickly, obviously forming an answer to the vague statement.

"Oh.." Those just moistened lips were only forming an adorable O, and Squall was hoping there wouldn't be any negative comments following, ruining the sweetness of the view. It wasn't really his goal to tell everyone about his preferences, especially to Cloud, who was blissfully unaware that the brunet was gradually falling for the other. "So.. no pink then? Black.. or perhaps rainbow colored, hm?" Squall sighed in relief and turned his head enough to give the other man a grateful look, to which Cloud responded with a shy blush and smile.

"Yeah.. Maybe rainbow would be better. Or something with moogle pattern." Squall turned his eyes to Reno who was having a time of his life, jumping in the booth, goggles over his eyes, one hand in the air cheering the dancing people on with the music. "Though I think the pins would fit Reno much better."

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

So.. Squall was gay, huh? Cloud leaned back to the couch, not really noticing how intimate their position was again, bodies so close their arms were touching from shoulders to elbows, hips so near each the fabrics rubbed against. He went on with his musings, watching Reno bouncing up and down, clearly enjoying this event. He had nothing against the other being as he was, it actually made him feel rather giddy, if something. He had friends who were involved with their own sex and it had never really bothered him. Though, he didn't really know where to put himself.. He didn't like to categorize himself at all and thinking about his few romantic moments in his short life was enough to prove him that he usually fell for the people who were just disturbed somehow or simply unattainable for him. It had never had anything to do with the sex of the person. Definitely not against being gay, that was for damn sure. Cloud grinned internally.

_/Have you ever noticed../_

The lyrics of the song playing drilled their way into his brain slowly but surely. Cloud snapped back to this moment only to find Squall staring at him one eyebrow raised and Reno swaying in his booth and pointing directly at him with a huge grin on his face. This song.. It was the same he was listening yesterday! Was Reno playing this because of him? He was staring at the redhead with his mouth open, eye wide, without himself noticing it. He heard a chuckle next to him and gentle fingers pressing his jaw once again.

"No matter how you try to gape like that, it still won't turn you into a fish." Cloud felt his cheeks to start burning and closed his mouth with an audible snap. The brunet patted his shoulder and grinned. "Cute, still."

"I.. uh. It's just this song!" Cloud blushed furiously and waved his hands in the air before him -very unlike of him- trying to explain himself. "I was listening to radio yesterday and then Reno walked in on me while I was doing something and and.." Okay, now it came out a little wrong. He closed his mouth again and turned his face to the floor, trying to stop existing. Squall was biting his lip again, obviously fighting a laugh.

"Walked in on you.. doing exactly what?" The glistening eyes drilled a hole thru Cloud's head. He could feel the gaze roaming over his face.

_/A more beautiful vision - I have never seen../_

"..." He was so embarrassed, felt like sinking thru the floor and to disappear. "..dancing. Alone in my room." Next to him, he heard a weird little noise and lifted his face to see what the other was doing, finding the other holding his hand over his mouth and trembling with his eyes closed. "Um.. Squall?"

The brunet was laughing behind his hand quietly and was clearly unable to form any sort of speech right now. Cloud watched in some kind of semi-embarrassed and semi-awe fashion this little scene in front of him. It kind of fascinated him, to see someone with such a cold demeanor, to laugh so warmly.

"I.. ahaha. Sorry! He.. he. It's just.. haa, just the way you said it!" Squall peeked thru his eyelids at the blond who wasn't sure should he feel offended or amused. "Heh. It was funny, the way you said it. I'm sorry if I offended you, didn't mean to do that." Since the other was regretting his sudden laughing, Cloud just nodded, still a little embarrassed as the song kept going in the back, Reno making it just worse while imitating his moves from yesterday. Oh god.. Did he look that stupid? He was NEVER going to dance in public. Ever. "Soo... He caught you while dancing? There's nothing wrong with that, right? You don't dance?"

_/You really are my ecstasy. My real life fantasy../_

"No." Damn it, Squall. Don't look so good and make me want to sink under the couch feeling ugly as heck. The brunet was probably thinking of him to be nothing more than just some random dude who had obviously no manners and was on top of that, too skittish and stupid to stay still.

"Oh.. Well, maybe I'll get you to change your mind. Someday."

Wait, what? Squall wanted to see him again? Oh boy.. Cloud tried to regain some of his still remaining cool behavior and settled down to the couch, again failing to notice they were practically glued from their sides together. "You're going to have wait a really long time then. Probably the rest of your life."

"It's ok. I'm good at waiting." Casually, Squall just leaned forward and took his nearly forgotten beer. "Maybe you just haven't had the time to relax enough." Well, that was true.. Thinking about the events in his life, it was no wonder he'd been more than a little occupied with other things than thinking about dancing around.

Cloud didn't know what to say to that so he reached for his beer also. He felt Squall's eyes follow the glass to his lips.

"Please try not to choke this time.." The blond bit his lips, looking at the brunet man who wore an amused smile on his lips.

"I won't." With that said he took a careful swig, the liquid smoothly flowing down his throat. "See?" He grinned, feeling again the alcohol that he had consumed before, warming his stomach. His companion lifted his glass, congratulating him.

There was a moment of silence, both of men concentrating on their drinks, eyes glued to their mutual hyperactive friend who made the people move in unison, the sweaty bodies rocking together, some grinding their partners in such vulgar manner it made Cloud to look in shame to somewhere else. Drowning the beer in his hand almost completely he finally placed it back on the table, leaning back and sighing. He really wasn't good with alcohol, already his head was slightly swirling, making him a little nauseated. The room spun around and he let out a soft groan in protest.

"Cloud..?" The blond heard Squall's voice from somewhere distant. Oh, he felt suddenly so tired, he wanted to go home and take a goodnight sleep. "Hey, don't fall asleep!" He felt his eyelids starting to close. He really should straighten himself up, like.. right now. Come on Cloud, wakey wakey.. Nope, no effect.

His head landed on something warm and firm. Something also smelled nice. Nice and comforting. He decided he liked that smell and leaned into it more, his cheek rubbing against the softness that was obviously fabric, that much he managed to figure out, despite his blurry mind. He felt like drifting away, yet he was somewhat aware of his surroundings. The thudding beat of the music and flickering lights were all one big ball of throbbing mass before his closed eyelids. Whoa.. that's really weird to look at! His confused mind decided that the ball looked like the energy ball Bahamut had spat from its mouth. There was no Bahamut here, right..?

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_Now now, who fed Cloud mushrooms... Stay tuned!_


	3. Episode 3

Episode 3

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

As Cloud's head slowly started to lean to his side and the blond's eyelids slipping close all the warning signs were ringing in Leon's head quite loudly. This wasn't normal behavior from anyone. He managed to gently guide the spiky head on his shoulder where Cloud seemed to settle with a smile on his partially open lips. The brunet was helplessly just watching as the other drifted away from this reality, realizing that his pretty companion must have been drugged. Damn it! Wha.. what? Was the other nuzzling against his shoulder? Oh god.. Squall bit his lip and observed the dozing man now nearly in his lap.

He knew there was a drug that caused their victims to fall into similar kind of state and he hated to see this strong man be so helpless. Not to mention Cloud was looking so damn adorable there, head resting comfortably against the brunet, the blond spikes tickling his neck. It would've been so easy to take advantage of him. Luckily he wasn't one of those disgusting people who took someone without their permission. The mere thought made his mind set in flames of rage!

He should get Cloud home but he had no idea where the blond lived. Pondering for a moment before deciding just to wait Reno to quit and ask him. He was going to make sure Cloud made his way to his own bed and no other. Even if it had not been Cloud here now, he would have made sure to get the person safe, no matter what. Squall was one the people who just couldn't help but to help, despite the partial unwillingness to do so. Wrapping his arm around the narrow waist, he pulled the smaller body tightly against him, wanting nothing more than this to happen when they both were sober.

Cloud, in his state, was rather limp and raised his hand in slow motion, which Squall watched in faint fascination as it eventually found its destination on his chest -was the fist actually pawing the fabric, like a cat? Oh god..-. The blond man shifted ever so lightly and suddenly Squall had to fight the spikes out of his mouth. Cloud had managed to cradle his face to the hollow of the brunet's neck and was breathing there peacefully, warming his skin in such a delightful way it made him want to cry, just because this would never happen without the drug in Cloud's system.

This was where Reno found them, the blond cuddled against Squall so tightly the redhead had to blink few times to make sure it was actually his two most stoic friends ever, being so.. cute. And close. And so quickly. Something was wrong, obviously.

"Yo, Leon.. What the hell?" Reno leaned forward as the brunet just had raised his eyes from his position, where he had been resting his cheek against Cloud's mass of hair. That slumber of the blond didn't seem all too good.

"I believe he got drugged." Squall seemed to tighten his hold of the blond's waist, caressing the side with his fingers. Reno was so relieved Cloud was in such good care, since he knew Squall would do nothing to harm anyone, not without them first having done something terribly wrong. The redhead's blood boiled as he wanted to hit that someone who had dared to use this method to his friend!

"Oh fuck. You saw who?" The brunet shook his head. It was easy to see that the other wanted nothing more also than beat the shit out of someone. Also it was pretty clear he was being very protective over his new friend.

"No. I guess it was when he went to buy the beers. I was here the whole time."

"Aw man. This sucks major balls. I should get him home." Reno eyed the obviously limp man and thought how much that pile of tight muscles must weigh. "I bet I can't even lift him from your arms, though.. You wouldn't mind..?" He plead at his friend. Squall just nodded.

"I was going to offer anyway. The sooner we leave the better." Squall moved to stand up from his comfortable position, removing the hold of his dozing charge and placed the blond to lean against the sofa. He stretched for a moment then leaned back down and lifted Cloud easily to his arms and followed Reno out of the club, the blond's face back against his neck.

So fragile in this state it awoke a mad want to protect the other for the rest of his life, his heart fighting the rage for the mischief -a very, very bad joke in his opinion!- and the shrinking feeling that he had lost his throbbing heart with a little fight. Not that Cloud was unable to take care of himself most likely, but still.

* * *

><p>As Reno pushed the doors to a bar called 7th Heaven open, Squall was wondering had the redhead already forgotten they were suppose to get Cloud home, not to a bar, but the doubt vanished quickly as the bar seemed to be closed for the night and a dark haired woman emerged from the backroom.<p>

"Reno..?" Then she spotted the blond man in Squall's arms and she gasped air and ran towards them, cradling that angelic face in her palms. "Cloud? Sweetie? What happened! Reno, did he get into a fight again?" Sweetie? The brunet's heart nearly stopped right there and then. A girlfriend, huh? Fuck..

"No, not a fight, calm down girl." Reno sighed and tugged his long ponytail. "Someone drugged him. Luckily Leon was there to keep him safe while I was working. The poor guy would be in a very bad situation without him." He folded arms before him. "So, Tifa.. Meet my friend -and Spikey's savior- Leon. Leon, this is Cloud's roommate, Tifa. " Squall felt the nearly black pair of eyes drill into his scull as she tried to decide what to think of him. Squall simply stared back, not saying anything, just nodding slightly.

"He should be in bed already." Not that the man in his arms was heavy to carry, but even he -the almighty Leonhart- got tired of carrying nearly dead weight for long. Tifa gave a last glare at him and motioned him to follow her to the back of the room, up the stairs that were behind the corner. Lifting Cloud into a better position once more he walked after Tifa. Reaching the tidy little room and a seeing a single bed there, Squall just walked over there and knelt down to lay the blond man on the covers.

He felt regret, a loss, as soon as there was no longer a warm body against his. A bittersweet parting? When had he turned into such a sappy person. Squall sighed, reaching down to push the blond spikes off from Cloud's closed eyes and let his fingertips caress the soft cheek gently. The man made a soft noise to the gesture and smiled in his slumbering state, turning his head to the touch.

Tifa was watching the scene before her with a puzzled look on her face and tried to figure what to think of the stranger who acted so warm towards Cloud.

"You didn't see who did this?" She finally spoke up, making the brunet to stand up and turn to face her.

"No. I would like to know so I could beat the shit out of that person." His voice was cold, without any other emotion than pure disgust and determined rage. Tifa raised her finely shaped eyebrow at this, it was like there was a growling lion in front of her. Where ever that image came, she didn't know. "I should go. Make sure he drinks a lot of fluids when he wakes up. He's probably going to be a little groggy." The girl snorted at this comment.

"Well, that would be nothing new to handle then. He's always groggy when he wakes up." She shrugged and turned on her heels, walking back downstairs. Squall turned once more to look at Cloud, who seemed to be safe now, in his own bed, laying there a little pale, then followed Tifa.

Reno was leaning against the counter, sighing and chewing on his lip, deep in his thoughts. He raised his eyes from the floor he had been measuring when Tifa appeared, Squall soon appearing after her. The brunet was clearly upset, Reno could more sense it than see, now that he had gotten used to observe this emotionless friend of his. Tifa was looking at them both with a drained look on her face.

"I know Tifa, I know.." Reno could easily follow the girls thoughts. "Cloud definitely doesn't deserve this, not after all the trouble he's had to go thru in his life." Squall was following the conversation with mild confusion, he had been out of town so long before he had returned few weeks ago. He figured the two were talking about Cloud's past, most likely. Had the blond had such a hard life? He wouldn't know.

"It's just not FAIR!" The girl slammed her fist suddenly to wall next to her, Squall raising one eyebrow as he saw the hole her fist left behind. Okay, don't get this girl pissed at you, like.. ever.

"I'm gonna go now. It was nice meeting you Tifa. Reno, call me if something turns up." Squall bowed a little to the girl and waved his hand at the redhead, leaving the bar smoothly. Though, as he slowly walked the streets down he felt his heart throb with each step more painfully against his ribcage. He was so screwed. Shaking his head he took a deep breath, a low growl echoing up from his throat. It annoyed him that he there was no way to find the fucker who had done this to Cloud! Fuming, Squall paced forward and towards his own home.

* * *

><p>BEEB<p>

_'Hey Reno, could you send me Cloud's number? I forgot to tell him something about tomorrow.' -Squall_

BEEB

_'Tomorrow? Btw Tifa says she owes you and she's sorry if she seemed mean (seriously, she's always bitchy like that!). Here's the number tho .. ' -Reno_

BEEB

_'Thanks. Tell her it's ok. I understand.' -Squall_

BEEB

_'Hey Cloud, I got your number from Reno. Hopefully you are not feeling too shitty. Try to rest today and if you still wish to come to see me work, there's another club next weekend. I will put your name on the list so don't worry about not getting in. Bring a friend if you don't want to come alone. -Squall'_

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

Light poured over his face, his mind still swimming in the dream lands. Slowly the reality pushed its way to his consciousness, making him stir from the warm nest he had managed to form while turning in his sleep. Where was he..? Cloud blinked and made a soft noise of pain as the light seemed to cause electric shock piercing his brains. Not good. Not good at all. He remained still, trying to figure his whereabouts and how he had gotten there.

Defying the piercing light and pain, he peeked under his lids to do a quick search, falling back to comforting darkness after recognizing the room to be his own. Now to figure how he had gotten there since his last clear memory was sitting next to Squall -oh, that gorgeous man.. what happened to him?- and drinking his beer. After that.. it all went a little hazy and unfocused. Cloud's musings were interrupted as he heard familiar footsteps outside his room.

"Tifa.." He tried to find his voice somewhere, but it seemed to be hiding under the bed, since he managed only to whisper Tifa's name with dry lips. He heard the door open anyway and sighed in relief as Tifa's familiar form sat on the edge of his bed.

"Hey there stupid. Got yourself in a mess again, did you." Cloud coughed a little. "Oh, here.. " Cloud felt something cold being pressed in his hand. "Leon said you should drink fluids as much as you can when you wake up." Leon? Oh yeah, the brunet had said he sometimes used that name too. Cloud took the offered glass and lifting himself a little to a sitting position more he gratefully drank the liquid. It certainly eased his throbbing head.

"What happened?" He heard Tifa sighing and shifting on the bed.

"Someone drugged your drink. At least that's the only logical explanation to your sudden collapsing. You are lucky that you were in good company. That friend of Reno's.. Leon, he carried you home." Tifa glanced at her friend, only to find those pale cheeks gathering pink on them. She raised her eyebrow. "So, just rest now and drink more water. I'll be downstairs if you need anything." She stood up, reached to ruffle gently Cloud's hair and then patted away, leaving the blond to process the information.

Sipping the water slowly, leaning his forehead to the wall next to him, he started to regain some of his strength and dared to open his eyes. The light still felt uncomfortable but it wasn't unbearable. Sighing in relief that he was actually still alive and in unraped condition, Cloud let his feet fall to the floor, slowly feeling how he could manage to stand up. Noticing that he was wearing still the same clothes as yesterday it was more than obvious he needed a shower.

* * *

><p>After the refreshing shower, Cloud felt like new person, like someone had poured coffee into his veins. Coffee.. what a delightful idea! He dried his skin and wrapped the bath rope around him, shaking his head and causing droplets of water splay over the walls. He smiled in defeat as his futile attempt to flatten the gravity defying hair failed, once again. Searching thru his pants that now lay in the laundry basket, finding what he was looking for, he dropped the phone into the robes pocket and made his way downstairs. Irresistible smell of fresh coffee greeted him when he entered the kitchen. Tifa was making preparations for dinner already and smiled at him.<p>

"Heard you taking a shower and figured you'd want your coffee." Oh, she knew him so well. Yawning a little he pulled a chair and sat on it, waiting the sweet treat of gods to get ready. "Oh, Reno said he'd call you if something would turn up, concerning yesterday." Oh right, the phone. Cloud picked the phone out the pocket and opened it.

2 new messages

Reno:

_Hey stupid, hope yer doing better already! I reported this little incident to the club owner and he said he'd pass the word ahead to people be more careful. Fabulous! Call me if you need anything!_

Unknown number:

_Hey Cloud, I got your number from Reno. Hopefully you are not feeling too shitty. Try to rest today and if you still wish to come to see me work, there's another club next weekend. I will put your name on the list so don't worry about not getting in. Bring a friend if you don't want to come alone. -Squall_

He stared at the little screen, reading the message again. Squall.. The man had carried him home. A memory of some nice fragrance came back to Cloud and it took him only a second to figure it had been Squall who smelled like that. Something sweet, almost floral. Aw shit, he had been like a helpless maid in distress! Embarrassment rushed over him and the blond head banged against the table, making Tifa jump in surprise. Stupid stupid stupid..!

"Cloud..?" Tifa was only able to look at Cloud's head that softly made an audible thud on the table. When he finally was finished with the childish acting he just looked at his phone with determined look on his cherubic face.

"Tifa. I'm going out tonight again."

* * *

><p>There was little he couldn't understand in this world, but one of the things was women. And their ability to make your life quite difficult by saying what he could, should or couldn't and definitely shouldn't do. Like Tifa was now, standing there, in the garage before him, while he was checking his bike and making sure all the necessary parts to be in their own places.<p>

"Cloud. Seriously.. I want you to be safe but you are NOT going to take any of your swords with you in there! Or more likely, they wont let you in with those!"

"But.. But Tifa! Just the little ones, you know.. these knives? I can hide them inside my clothes." Cloud tried to pout at the girl, but only managed to look angry. As well did Tifa. "Fine! I won't take them in. But I'm still going to load Fenrir with them." Tifa's glare drilled thru his head. " I promise!" As if still not believing Cloud she wrinkled her nose and finally sighed in defeat.

"Fine, just don't get in trouble." She examined the blond man few seconds, tilting her head to the side. "Tell Leon I said to keep an eye on you. Or else.." Slamming her fist against her other palm, it left very little to guess what she meant by that. He could only blink few times after the dark haired girl had left the room and then continued placing his swords into the bike.

There was also the matter of his clothes still.. Cloud was pretty sure there was nothing plastic in his closet, nor anything brightly colored, so he figured he would just settle with all black. He would be more comfortable in that color anyway. Pushing the faint headache off to the back of his head he decided to go for a small drive and perhaps smash something with his sword, before giving into the nervousness of seeing the brunet again. It never occurred to him that he forgot to reply Squall at any point anything.

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

A quick flash of silver cut the air, followed by cursing and a wooden thud against the ground. Again the silver went up, something cutting its way in the middle, a loud clank when the two heavily swung objects met in the air.

"Com'one boy, hit me with ya best shot!" The wooden end of the spear was lifted from the ground as its owner spun it around in the air, the heavier, metal covered end glistening in the morning sunlight. There was a grunt from the other side of the field they were doing this little dance of theirs and the silvery gleam appeared again, making the blond man curse under his breath and jump out of the way. There was a snarl heard as he jumped to his side and swung the spear towards his opponent.

Squall's counter was impeccable as usual, the metal of their weapons making that clank again when they hit together, the two fighting men grinning as they jumped backwards, before attacking relentlessly over and over again, both of their skin covered with beads of sweat, strands of hair stuck on Squall's cheeks, Cid's smokes tossed somewhere off.

The brunet circled his mentor -his friend- in slow motion, calculating the possibility of Cid trying this one particular attack on him. The older man made a sudden move to his right and made Squall grin in triumph. Cid jumped in the air, using his spear to give him more leverage and thus sending him towards the younger man, spear raised now high before him, the metal end pointing directly at the brunet's heart.

As Cid tried to finish him off with this good and usually effective attack, there was something the blond had not anticipated this time; Squall was fully prepared and had too much energy to develop new moves to surprise his sparring companion. The young man rushed forward, keeping his gunblade high to protect his head if Cid tried to change the course of his jump suddenly. The blade blocked the spear in mid air, Squall turning a bit to his left and kicked his right leg high in the air, the boot meeting the jumping man's stomach with force, sending the man backwards.

Cid landed on the ground, the impact emptying his lungs and his stomach feeling like it wanted to hurl itself out thru his mouth. He coughed, tried to curse and found the tip of Squall's gunblade pressed to his cheek.

"Yield."

The blond coughed angrily and glared at his younger companion, fury visible in his blue eyes. As the silvery, stoic blue eyes just kept on staring down, the metal pressed against his cheek and the tip of it piercing the skin a little, he had no other option but to swallow his pride and shove the gunblade off his face with one pouting move.

"Fine! Ya dumb bastard, when I told ya hit me with ya best shot I meant to leave me in one piece!" Giving out his arm to the standing man to help him up, Cid kept mumbling curses under his breath as the pain slowly turned into a pleasant throb to remind him be a little more careful next time. The boy was progressing, definitely. Cid eyed Squall's face as the brunet yanked him up to his feet and frowned. "Ye ain't yer best today. Half expected to have more wounds but ye seem to have yer mind in summin else. Ye in trouble?"

Squall was wiping the sweat from his forehead when he stopped to think of the question. "In a way yes. And yet no." Cid looked confused for a moment, then just scratching his neck and smiled widely.

"Must be this trouble then, eh?" Pointing at his chest, precisely over his heart and shot a questioning glare at the other man who was able to nod. "Yup, tha'ain't gonna be easy then. Good luck kiddo." He picked up his spear, swirling it in the air with ease before pointing its blunt head to the brunet's chest. "Now, let's run back!" Smirking that annoyingly knowing smile, Cid had set an unspoken challenge between them. Again. Squall nodded, attaching his gunblade to his back and sprinted towards the city, leaving Cid standing there stupefied, but only for a second.

"Dumbass." Cid mumbled and jogged after the younger man, knowing fully well it did only good for the other to relieve his stress physically. The boy would be ok in the end. No one dies for heartaches.

* * *

><p>He was sitting before his computer, headphones over his ears, staring the screen with very little interest. Going thru the set list for the night was something he had to do to make sure everything was in order, but he was constantly checking his mobile to see if there was any new messages. Fingering the phone with his fingers for a while he then opened it, started to write a message, then deleted it with a groan escaping his mouth and tossed the damn thing away from his distressed fingers. FUCK!<p>

Had the message gone to the right person even? Maybe not.. But then again his logical mind nagged to him that if it was someone else than Cloud, that person probably would have sent him a message stating it actually had gone to wrong number. Shit, he really hated this feeling! Maybe he had sent it to someone else..? He reached to take the phone back, settling down in his chair -the music just went on without him really paying any attention to it, like he should have done-, opening the sent messages file, once again convincing himself that it had gone to the number Reno gave him last night. Squall tossed the phone away again and buried his face to his palms.

Okay, so he was frustrated and pissed off too. Frustrated because Cloud had not had the sense to answer him -if he ever got the message, that is- and pissed off because he was a brooding nerve wreck, fussing over something like this! The training with Cid had done good to him but now he felt his muscles to tense back to their stiff state, which was very bad since he had to work in the evening. Well, Cloud wouldn't be there, so he could just half-ass his job.. No, that he could never do, no matter how distracted he was.

_/a little part of you die.. a little part of you die.. a little part of you die../_

He snorted as he realized what lyrics poured into his head and made a mental note that he should add this to his mp3-player too. A small part of him tried very hard to die, because he was worried of Cloud's well-being. Had the other had a bad time waking up? Did he remember anything from yesterday? Did he even remember him? Oh man, the blond had been like an angel in his arms.. So pretty it made his teeth hurt. So vulnerable..

No, wait. Ok, so Cloud had been in very weak state but it didn't erase the fact that the man in his arms had felt nothing even close of being unable to protect himself. There hardly was any fat in that body and the muscles were tight as all people who had to do hell of a lot of physical work had. Squall fiddled idly with his hair and tried to imagine what kind of work out Cloud did. He was a little cat-like, so lithe and most likely had high stamina. A man of his taste. Definitely.

Oh, he was so screwed! Ripping his hair to different directions he stood up, completely forgetting he still had the headphones on and thus ripping the cord out of his laptop and the laptop nearly falling on the floor. Cursing out loud, Squall decided he really should take a grip on himself or he would also screw up tonight's set list. But he was not able to stop himself for checking the phone again. No.. No messages. Maybe Cloud just thought he had been so weird and unworthy of the blonds attention he would never even consider of answering.

He was pushing himself on the verge of getting mad at the other man and that never led into anything good. Squall made an ugly face to his reflection in the mirror as he glared at his messy hair and scarred face. Stupid scar.. He was willing to bet his money on that Cloud had thought of him to be pretty ugly, mostly because of it. Stupid Seifer for causing that to happen. Right, now he started to sound like he was still 10-years-old. Get a grip Leonhart, now!


	4. Episode 4

Episode 4

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

The last look in the mirror. Oh boy.. He wasn't really sure he was up to this. This going alone out again thing. And to add more pressure of surviving alive was the fact he really wanted to see Squall. He had no idea why he was so drawn to the other, it was at the same time so very physical and somehow mental too. Not that they had talked that much and the evening had been interrupted in such an embarrassing way -his cheeks were still getting red from anger when he thought of it-, but still Cloud felt his whole existence yearning to be near the brunet again.

He had dressed himself simply in black, nothing fancy. He had a clean pair of baggy pants on -of which Tifa kept complaining, he didn't understand what point there was to wear pants so tight they left very little to imagine- and a simple black t-shirt. It was still warm outside but he decided to take a long-sleeved sweater with him since the club was near the edge of the city and he wanted to ride there. Running a gloved hand thru his spiked hair he thought how plain he looked, still a little pale from yesterday and most definitely in need of something relaxing. Though he had no intent to drink nothing but water tonight.

And if someone tried anything funny.. He was prepared for that also. Smirking deviously to his reflexion, he set out of the room and waved his hand to Tifa behind the bar counter. Now, more pleasurable things first.

He enjoyed his bike too much to not to take a little longer route to his final destination. Stepping into the garage, standing a moment next to his baby, he ran his fingertips lovingly over its shiny black surface and wondered what he would do if he still was suffering motion sickness while riding Fenrir, like he was when Cid took him up in his airship. He'd probably pout like an angry child since there was no bigger kick for him, than riding fast with this bike.

Grinning in his solitude Cloud mounted the bike and started the engine with one soft roar. Oh, the bike certainly purred in a voice that was sweet as honey in his ears. An image of Squall purring entered his brain. Oh.. sweet higher forces, don't make me want to squee in front of him. If he still wants to see me even! Nervousness was making his stomach twist a little, Cloud drove out on the street and set out to calm his mind on less busy streets, where he could just speed as much as he wanted.

* * *

><p>The street was fairly empty when Cloud pulled his bike over the sidewalk about an hour later he had left home. Wondering if he was in the right address, he scanned the street for anything that might suggest the club he was looking for was somewhere near. He was already reaching to his phone, when he saw a couple of kind of peculiar looking persons walking on the other side of the road, stopping at this huge iron door that looked nothing more than a door to a bomb-shelter. The couple opened it and disappeared inside. And since they had been very.. plastic-looking, Cloud decided to follow their lead and parked his bike finally. Daring himself to leave the precious machine there on its own was a huge step to him, but then again.. it had gone thru some heavy damage before without falling apart, and there was always Cid who could fix it. So, heart full of anxiety and his hands lightly trembling he made his way to the heavy iron door.<p>

Standing now before it, he noticed the name of the club had been scorched on the door, it kinda stood out now that he was so close, but it was hard to know it was a entryway to a club. Cloud took a deep breath and pulled the handle and sudden darkness enveloped him. Soft, muffled sounds of music playing somewhere was the only clue that he was going to the right direction.

It was a small space that he stood now, slowly the blond realized there actually was light above him, it just was black ,so all the shadows were deep gray and made it impossible to see clearly, even with his eyes it was difficult. Interesting start.. His heartbeat was almost audible to his ears now. He took a step forward and realized there was a small booth and behind it there was a bored looking girl, heavy black make-up surrounding her eyes and lips painted black, hair also black, wearing nothing but black too.

"Hi there." She had lifted her eyes from her nail filing was now looking at Cloud directly, head tilted slightly to her side. "You got a name on list or just buying ticket in?" The blond blinked few times, before remembering something Squall had said about putting him on some list. It probably had meant this.

"I'm not sure if I am there. Cloud, if it actually is there." The girl flipped thru some papers before her and then shook her head.

"Nope. I don't see it. 15, if you still wanna go in." She smiled sweetly, as odd as it looked for someone whose entire attire was that gloomy. Cloud paid the price and was then directed ahead. "Down the stairs, follow the music and you wont get lost." He only nodded and searched in the dim light those mentioned stairs. He had a nagging feeling that there would be even more surprises ahead, it was already quite a lot more different than anything he had set his eyes on.

He descended the steps carefully, making his way towards the slowly increasing volume of music. It sounded a lot like he had heard yesterday, but something was completely different from it. Finally he reached a pair of dark wooden doors and pushed them open. He wasn't really ready for the impact of the music that hit him in the face as much as did the heavy air that clung there. He could have cut it with his sword, it was so intense.

_/You sick fuck! You sick fuck! You sick fuck!/_

Cloud bit his lip and looked confused. Yeah, definitely different sort of music that Reno had played. It was much more raw, the bass ripping the amplifiers nearly in pieces, the thudding of it hit him from all around him so hard it was nearly difficult to breath. He wasn't really able to tell much about the lyrics since the vocals were torn, loud yelling mostly, but the few words he caught were quite far from being about sunshine and rainbows.

The club itself was rather big, simple design and left a little to explore. There was a huge dance floor that took out most of the space, on the edge of it stood a stage where there seemed to be all the DJ's equipment spread around along with interesting decorations that consisted army styled webs and sculls, and were those bones? Cloud was only able to blink his eyes at this sight, then turning his stare to the rest of the area. Dark corners, like any other club, were spread to the walls, with tables and couches, stools and higher tables to just lean onto or place your drinks on.

The bar was on the other side of the room, opposite of the stage, it seemed to radiate some red and purple light and as Cloud stepped closer he noticed it to be completely made out of clear glass, different lamps coloring it from the inside. He was able to see all the various bottles of alcohol stored behind the glass too, interesting way to decorate since usually the bottles were on the back wall. He searched that space and noticed that it did consist the bottles and machines too, probably easier for the bartenders to flip the needed liquids in their hands, rather than just having to jump up and down all the time. Interesting, indeed.

But the biggest thing that made Cloud confused were the people that had gathered in there. The ruling color was indeed black, but.. He understood now what Squall had meant when he had mentioned the neon-colors and plastic. Various people had dressed themselves in shiny black -or red, white, green..- fabrics that hugged their bodies so tightly it left definitely nothing hidden. He had to shake his head few times when he realized that if the people around weren't wearing plastic, their clothes were most likely ripped so badly they were half naked.

And this was the place Squall thought he would feel more comfortable at..? Like hell not. Though the music wasn't half as bad, now that he got used to the raping of the vocal cords and bass so fast it made him think he was about to have a cardiac arrest. The place was rather full, but the dance floor was nearly empty, all the people inside had packed themselves to the tables and were chatting in small groups.

Cloud felt like he was standing out a little too well by standing there doing basically nothing but ogling around alone, so he ventured to the bar and asked for a glass of water from the heavily pierced bartender. The thing about the people here was also that most of them were quite well tattooed and pierced. He had had no idea there even was such people existing!

But in the midst of these people, there was no sign of Squall. Cloud sighed and chewed on his lower lip, trying to figure what to do to find the man he had wanted to see. Then it hit him. Oh crap.. He had not even replied to Squall's message! Reaching to his pocket and fetching his phone Cloud was trying to write a message but he was interrupted.

"Hi there gorgeous, you alone?" A soft question voiced next to his ear and he raised his eyes to see the person behind the words. A lone woman, probably twice Cloud's age, dressed in very fitting red latex dress, high-heels and weird colored hair that didn't really look real. What Cloud could make of the woman's face, under those thick layers of make-up, it was a little too eager looking and basically.. frightened him.

"No." He tried to escape back to his phone. Frantically writing a message and sending it only made his misery worse, since now he had nothing to concentrate on, except his water.

"Oh really. You know what sweetheart.. " The woman leaned towards the blond who could smell the alcohol in the her breath. "If I could rearrange the alphabet, I'd put U and I closer together.." Cloud tried not to choke on his water and stared at the woman not really believing his ears. He remained silent, there really was nothing he could say. This never the less did not lessen the interest of the other on him. Cloud tried to move away slowly but noticed it to be futile since he only would end up against someone else who was waiting at the bar.

"I really have company already." At least he wished so! Now more than ever. The drunken state of the woman was now more visible as she took one unsteady step closer to him, perhaps in hopes of getting all intimate already.

"If I told you had an incredible body, would you hold it against me?" She managed to slur thru her thickly painted lips, which she now pursed at him, making Cloud jump out of the way with an audible 'eep!' escaping his lips, eyes wide and full of shock. Too bad he ended up jumping against someone which made him let out another sound of surprise out of his mouth. He turned his blond head to see who was the owner of the body that stood very still there.

"I believe he said he had company already." A low voice filled Cloud's ears and he sighed in relief and then, when registering the voice to belong to none other than Squall, he felt his knees weaken so suddenly. Strong arm was wrapping itself around his waist and he was being tugged into a tight half-hug. "So, piss off." The woman looking rather baffled, seeing the two men holding each other so very closely, now that Cloud had had the sense to wrap his own arm around Squall's waist too. She shrugged her shoulders and took off, mumbling something about gays being the pain in the ass.

"Thank you.." Cloud felt his heart start to race, feeling the calm beat of Squall's heart against his chest. It was such an intoxicating feeling, warm and safe. He remembered it from last night too.

"No, it's ok. But you seem to have the ability to get in trouble." Squall cocked his eyebrow at the blond and tightened his hold of him. "Shouldn't leave you alone at all. Though, you could have had messaged me earlier. Not that I didn't enjoy that 'I'm at the bar. Help.' message quite much." The brunet grinned widely as he noticed how Cloud's cheeks tried to set themselves on fire. "Not that I don't also mind getting that sort of messages from pretty boys." Cloud was able to just keep on blushing furiously and stared stubbornly at the floor, refusing to recognize Squall's existence so near to his own. That sweet fragrance he faintly remembered from last night lingered somewhere near the brunet's collar and Cloud wanted nothing more but to just lean closer to inhale it more deeply.

"I'm not a pretty boy.. I could probably beat your ass too." The words fell from his lips without him thinking about the content at all and there was little he could do about it before it was too late. "I mean.. not that you don't seem strong enough.." Oh god, the word-vomit just didn't stop! He was in a rather confused situation where he felt extremely good and relaxed and yet.. he wanted to run away from the touch. Squall's body radiated warmth, he smelled intoxicating and good. And he had rescued Cloud, once again. The blond sighed, he was so damn busted for getting soft towards someone and that, ladies and gent's, never had end up good.

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

"I accept the challenge." He smirked at the blond who now snapped his floor staring eyes up to meet Squall's finally. "You can try to kick my ass." The brunet was having hard time not to smile like an idiot when Cloud was looking straight at him with those amazing blue eyes of his, making his knees try to turn into cooked macaroni. "Come, let's get somewhere little less packed." He regretted letting go of that warmth he was feeling radiating from the body he held, but the other seemed to be uncomfortable there -though Cloud's arm was also on his waist too!-. He stepped a little further from the other man and motioned him to follow deeper into the club.

He had taken only few steps before he felt a hand taking his own into a tight grip. Squall turned his head to follow the pale arm to its owner and stared at Cloud's eyes, stunned. The blond held on his cheeks the most reddish color he had seen -well, after the choking incident there was little that could get more red..- before on anyone's face.

"I'll get in trouble if you turn your back." Without the color on his face Squall could've sworn it was a gesture to mock the brunet's words earlier, but that blush held a different kind of possibility. Smiling a little he took a firm hold of Cloud's hand and pulled him with in the middle of the people, heading towards the stage.

Cloud's hand was warm in his, the skin felt soft but it had the kind of harshness that spoke of endless hours of hard work, just like his was, because he had never said no to work. He admired a man who could take care of himself, there was nothing more unattractive than a big boy playing girly games. Cloud looked nothing like a girl or the kind that would take shit from anyone, quite the opposite. These two times they had seen, it had been under the wrong kind of circumstances that did not bring out the best in the blond. At least that was what Squall thought, since he felt like there was a spell cast on him when he was thinking about Cloud.

The slender fingers shyly intertwined with his and the blond tried to keep up with his speed and dodging the people getting their way. Squall wondered how odd it might look for him to waltz across the room with this gorgeous man and the regularly attending people knowing him to be most definitely a very lone person around here. The hell with it, it felt nice to hold the others hand like this, even though it was just for fun and nothing more.

They reached the right side of the stage, Squall opening a door hidden behind the huge amplifiers and pulled Cloud into a small corridor leading even further in. The corridor was brightly lit and they reached a room with a load of different sort of machines and wires -so many of them it looked like there was a mat of snakes on the floor-, mirrors covering the walls and a pair of couches set under them, the other occupied with a pair of darkly clothed persons talking quietly together.

"Hey, Squall.. Oh, a new playmate?" There was a huge grin flashed from the couch towards Squall and Cloud who entered the room. Squall felt the blond jerking his hand free and stopped behind him, looking suspicious as hell. The brunet ran his tingling fingers thru his messy hair and pointed at the two on the couch.

"No. Cloud, the idiot grinning there is Sora and the blond trying not smash Sora's head with that beer bottle is his twin, Roxas. Guys, this is Cloud." Two pairs of blue eyes set on the blond behind Squall and he more felt than saw Cloud shifting uncomfortable on his feet. "These boys are the ones that know all there is to know about how to make anything keep a hell of a lot noise." Two similar grins were shot from the couch.

"Yeah, we're the nutcases that continue the show until 4am when that dimwit there -yes Squall sweetheart I am talking about you, you old fart- has already gone home to sleep. No wait. Do you even sleep? I think he just works, fights and reads. No sleep. That's why he's so grumpy always." Sora babbled on, his twin making annoyed faces next to him, Squall just grunting at them and motioned Cloud to sit on the other couch.

"Want some soda or water, beer perhaps?" Cloud bit his lip and before moving to sit on the couch -the further corner from the eagerly staring twins- he glanced at Squall with nearly desperate look in his eyes. "They aren't contagious, despite how dirty they look." Two protesting noises rose from the younger boys direction but Squall just shrugged and grabbed a bottle of water for himself.

"Are you sure, they don't look too healthy.. And water please, I need to drive home." The blond eyed the twins his eyes narrow and clearly not trusting anything Squall had said. The brunet stifled a laugh behind his water, grabbing a new bottle for Cloud, handing it over as he flopped next to to him on the couch, not enough close to touch but not quite on the other end either.

"You on a car or what?" Squall ignored the younger boys on the other sofa, concentrating fully on his pretty companion. Cloud was toying with the bottle, again refusing to look at him. Maybe he doesn't want to be here even, well.. not with me at least? But why is he then.. Logic tried hit Squall in the back of his head but his heart was not listening and feared everything and was pessimistic about his chances to ever get anywhere close at being.. well, more warm with Cloud. The mere idea made the brunet swallow and avert his eyes.

"No.. I have a bike." Cloud answered a hint of affection appearing into his voice. Squall glanced at the other, seeing a small smile playing on the corner of those full lips -that seemed to call for sweet kisses- and was pretty sure the blond locks hid a soft glimpse dwelling in the blue eyes. How on earth could someone be so stunning, so damn perfect! And now on the top of all the good things he already knew -you really could read some people so easily- he has a bike. Of all the things that made Squall's heart skip a beat and his veins start to burn.. the image of Cloud sitting on a bike was terribly, frighteningly, absolutely hot.

"Oh." He just could not form any words. His mind had gone into a state where he was close at losing all his sane thinking and just leap on the other man and kiss him like there was no tomorrow. Squall wasn't sure, but he felt like his face was burning and that was something that made him feel skittish. Like hell he would act like a giggly little girl!

"Hey Squall. Are.. you _blushing_?"

"Sora, shut the fuck up!"

"But Rox, just _look _at hh.. OUCH! What was that for?"

The blond twin had smacked the brunet boy with his bottle quite hard, but it did quiet Sora down. Squall was eternally grateful for Roxas being there to keep his never-to-shut-that-mouth-brother in order. Trying to ignore the obvious glaring Cloud was doing at his and the twins direction, Squall ran his hand thru his hair -a gesture he did usually when he was nervous about something- and cleared his throat.

"You are feeling better now? I really thought you would not be able to get here tonight." Turning eventually to face Cloud, Squall had managed to get his cool demeanor back together and hoped he was looking as normal he could. The blond seemed to observe his every move with his eyes, gods only knew what the other was thinking of him.

"I did feel rather shitty when I woke up, but after drinking water, shower and Tifa's coffee, I felt better." Cloud bit his lip, which Squall found incredibly cute and felt his hands twitch, like they wanted to cup those cheeks and just.. Oh, stop it already! Mentally smacking himself, Squall nodded. "I am sorry though, for not replying to your message. I got too engrossed in my training that I lost track of time." Cloud finally leaned to the back of the couch, visibly less uncomfortable now. The brunet's eyes wandered over the bare arms, admiring the muscles and fair skin, eventually noticing how good black looked on the blond. Nice combination, indeed.

"It's fine, don't worry." So he had been right, there was some kind of work out for the other too. "Does this training of yours give you the upper hand that you claim to have? You know.. for kicking my ass." Cloud narrowed his eyes at this and his lips formed a devious grin after a moment of glaring.

"Hell yeah." Their eyes met and melted together, time and space blurring around them. How easy it would be to just kneel before Cloud and do anything he wanted Squall to do. Eventually Cloud blinked and the moment broke. "I assume you wield a weapon of some sort?" The blond moved his staring to his water bottle and opened with one slow move.

"Yes. I go for sparring with a friend usually. You should come too sometime, so you could prove yourself." The idea was absolutely thrilling. Squall took a swig from his own bottle and eyed the clock on the wall. "My turn will start in 15minutes, so I have to go now." Sighing, he got up and shot a glare at the unusually quiet twins. "If these two try anything funny, you have my full permission to kick their sorry bottoms."

"Your little playb..MMHPH!" Sora's sentence was cut by Roxas' hand pressing over that ever-talkative mouth.

"No worries, we'll keep your friend safe and sound here. Plus, you can see us from the stage if we stay over there. " The blond twin pointed at one of the three doors of the room, the one that was left from the door Cloud and Squall had entered, there was an entry to the stage and the DJ's spot looked straight to this room.

Squall looked at Cloud one last time, his gaze lingering over the blond's face, that slender neck, the black t-shirt that was so loose it made the man look very thin, which Cloud certainly was not in a bad way, and shook his head to clear it from unhealthy thoughts and walked out of the room, straight on the stage. He dimmed the lights there from the controls and sneaked across the empty space and hid behind the table where his precious laptop and machines were waiting for him. A thought of Cloud under his touch made its way to his brains as he ran his fingertips over the buttons. Oh what he would give for that..

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

How could he get away from this situation and smoothly just disappear into the shadows? He was sitting alone with the twin boys, both first staring at him with curiosity and then they had fallen into some weird motioning and language that Cloud only guessed to be something only the two spoke. For a moment he wondered what it would be like to have a walking image of you, but still not you, always by your side, but then realized how close he had been to a clone of Zack for the rest of his life.

Trying to turn his thoughts on something else he stared at he mirrors that covered the walls. All were covered with different kind of stickers, stating funny lines and advertising bands or new albums. Cloud wondered if Squall had his own name somewhere here. Squall.. His eyes moved to the door that lead to the stage and he wanted to stand up and move closer so he could see what the other was doing, from this current sitting point he saw only a glimpse of the dance floor.

"Hey Rox, I'm gonna go and help out, so Squall can begin and get his fat ass home to do, what ever he does there, I don't really wanna know." Sora got up from the couch and Cloud realized for the first time how close the two had been sitting. Very thin boys, the clothes were too big and their hair being even more spikier and messy than Cloud and Squall combined. "And blondie.." Cloud didn't realize first that Sora was talking to him, but after a moment of waiting he looked at the brunet boy. "Just move your skinny ass over there and see the man work his magic on stage. I know you want to." That mischievous little smile, that evil grin flashing over the young face and Cloud knew that the boy _knew_ what he was thinking about Squall. Oh crap..

Despite what Sora had said, Cloud stubbornly sat where he was, not intending to get up at all, not even when he saw that little part of the dancing area to darken, a few cheers rising from the crowds and Sora turning obviously some lights on. Damn, he wanted to get up so badly but just couldn't move a muscle! Cloud was unaware of Roxas also standing up until the blond had walked before him, looking at Cloud with his baby-blue eyes that seemed to know of his inner turmoil.

"Come, you really wanna see this." Roxas wore nearly the same clothes as his brother did, but he had white wrist warmers. Cloud just nodded and followed the shorter blond to the doorway. Roxas leaned on the door frame, pointing at Squall and Sora, who was behind the taller brunet sorting out some wires. Looking at the shorter blond boy this close made Cloud think of Squall even more. And looking at the two on the stage.. Their facial features were quite similar. Was that just a coincidence and a trick his eyes played because of the clothes and hair color?

Squall's tall figure stood up from behind the table where his equipment was, a pair of huge earphones on his head and face lit by a source Cloud didn't see from here. Seeing the other man from a distance made him just admire those features more, the whole being that Squall was.. it was enough to turn his veins towards much warmer state, that black tank top hugging the brunet's torso tightly not help either. Suddenly the music begun again. It was almost like a voice that came from screeching something with something sharp, it cut the air increasing the volume slowly to a point where finally the bass was ripping the amplifiers apart and a harsh voice started to yell the words.

_/Hey you, what the fuck is wrong with you? Hey you, what the fuck is wrong with you?/_

Cloud saw how the front area of the stage slowly was filled with people rushing to move with the music. It was a sight to see, the shimmering latex caught the flashing lights, the neon-colored hair shone in the UV-lights, making people look so surreal it felt like he had actually fallen thru the rabbit hole.. But the most interesting thing to watch was Squall. The brunet had dropped his stoic demeanor and was mouthing the lyrics, moving over his equipment smoothly, his body movement going in synch with the beat. Quite the opposite he had acted before.

Roxas welcomed his brother back by pulling the brunet boy close to his side -were they holding hands? Seriously, how old were they anyway.. 5?- and Sora grinned that manic grin of his.

"He sure does know how to use that body of his. Well tuned and pretty fucking hot without anything covering it. But I guess you know that already?" There was a stunned silence for a moment when Cloud turned slowly red and looked at Sora with an annoyed sort of twitch on his brow.

"I'm not that close with him." Though the idea of seeing Squall without clothes somewhat intrigued him more than he was willing to admit, not now at least, but also it frightened him. This wasn't the first time he had had an infatuation for another guy, but that was all it had ever been. So that made him again the girl here, probably. Goddamn it! "We only met yesterday."

_/Each year approximately one million people die for suicide./_

The twins both stared at Cloud with their pretty mouths open wide. "WHAT! Only yesterday? Holy crap, that was SUPER fast for Squall!" Sora managed to blurt out after they both had regained some of their sanity. This made of course Cloud intrigued more than he wanted the boys to know. But as the blond soon found out, the twins apparently saw right thru him and there was little he could hide from them. "He never wants anyone new to know anything about his life and for what we saw before he has revealed quite a lot, for being Squall." Roxas was nodding next to his brother.

"The last time we saw him having a guy over was like a really long time ago." The blond twin spoke a lot less but when he did, he had more serious tune in his voice, more calculating and cold, very much the opposite of his brother. Never the less, they both shared that piercing glare that made Cloud feel like he had no skin left to protect himself.

"Really. But I'm not his boyfriend or anything." With a little hint of longing in his voice, Cloud moved his eyes back to Squall, who was too gorgeous to not to look at. And he wasn't the only one who noticed this since there was a bunch of girls on the edge of the stage, shooting glares at the brunet's direction. Cloud missed the knowing smiles on the twins faces as they looked at each other and formed a silent word together; _Yet._

"Here, you should take this water to him." Roxas suddenly handed a pair of bottles to Cloud, ending the blonds menacing glaring at the group of girls. He stared at the blond twin, then the bottles and then Roxas again. "He forgot to take the extra ones with him." There was an innocent shrug, as if the suggested task was something that happened always, but for some reason Cloud was sure it was not purely accidental for Squall to forget something vital as water. He took the bottles eventually and then shot a hesitating stare to the stage that was lit up partially.

"Right.." Cloud took a deep breath and moved silently towards Squall, trying not to step under the spotlights. He saw from the corner of his eye that the people closest to the edge of the stage noticed him -also those damn giggling girls!- and nearly heard them whispering together in confusion. Ok, it wasn't really hearing, since the music was so loud, but he did see those painted lips talking and the glares they shot at his direction. Fastening his steps he sneaked behind the table in the protection of the shadows and observed the man in the middle of his work.

Cloud had not been paying attention earlier to what Squall was wearing, but he sure a hell saw it now. The pants were tight, so very tight, and hugged the long legs from the knees up to that nice back side. Maybe he could understand why people wore such tight pieces of clothing after all, those sure did bring out the best of Squall's well formed behind.. -but never to be put on him, really- The knee-length boots were still hot as pits of damnation, and around the right thigh there was now wrapped three leather belts. A naughty idea of what you could do with those belts distracted Cloud for a moment. Oh gods, I have to stop thinking about things like that..

Then Squall turned, catching Cloud staring at his ass and the blond felt his face setting on fire. Lucky for him, the brunet was too occupied and did not have many seconds to spare for ogling behind him. He motioned Cloud to step closer. The blond obeyed and when the other glanced at him again, Cloud had regained his normal color and lifted the bottles up. There was a grateful smile soon on Squall's lips as he pointed an empty space on the table where to put the items.

Now that he was close to the table, Cloud finally saw what the other was working with. There was two square boxes that had CD's on them, a smaller black square in the middle of those with lots of buttons. And also, Squall's laptop that was lighting the face of the brunet as he leaned closer every once in a while.

Squall must have caught the blond looking curious as he suddenly pulled the other man before him. Cloud found himself placed his back against Squall's warm chest, those slightly tanned arms reaching from either side of the blond to continue their work on the machines. He felt the brunet's hot breath on his neck and felt the shivers running down his spine so delightfully.

"Like this.." He heard Squall's voice very close to his ear and it wasn't far for his knees to give out and let him fall on the floor. The brunet took Cloud's hands and guided them over the turntables and the mixer, making it possible for them to make a smooth transition between the current song and the next. Cloud was mesmerized by the act and the fact that Squall's body was pressing against him. He felt the others heartbeat, felt the steady breathing on his neck -since when had his neck been so sensitive?- and those hands.. The blond found himself biting his lower lip as Squall's left hand fingers intertwined with his and the right arm wrapped around his waist, preventing Cloud from escaping. Like he was even able to think of fleeing.

Cloud could feel his body go rigid, the hold was so much more intimate than he had experienced before and it was hard for him to keep his racing heart still, not to mention how paralyzed he was. He wanted to move away from the warmth that made him dizzy, happiness making him smile like and idiot. Despite his mind screaming at him that this was nothing more than just a show for dancing crowds that saw nearly everything that went on, Cloud relaxed into the touch.

He really should wake up and fast, because the further he let himself be held like this, the harder it would be to admit that Squall was not thinking this the way Cloud was. The last logical thought disappeared when the blond felt a pair of dry, warm lips touching ever so lightly his neck. He leaned his head back to the brunet's shoulder with a delirious sigh, closing his eyes and marveling the jolt of electricity running thru his entire body.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_I had to cut it here, I'm sorry! The next episode definitely deserves its own chapter, hehe. And, it's one of my favourite ones too. Smut alert ahead! Stay tuned for more~_


	5. Episode 5

Episode 5

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><p>Squall<p>

If he had been surprised to see Cloud to emerge from the darkness behind him, that covered the stage, it sure came as a shocking realization to him that the blond was leaning into his embrace and not trying to pull himself free or accuse Squall being weird and disgusting for daring to do this kind of thing. The brunet couldn't help himself for leaning even closer, when that lean neck was so near to his face he could smell Cloud's skin. Spices and soap.. The man was made purely out of things that made Squall's mind spin, the closer they were. Under his hesitating fingertips he could feel the flat stomach of the other, the lines of abs and hipbones jutting beneath the fabric of the shirt. He could not resist the temptation, the skin looked so delicious, so very soft and the intoxicating smell.. Squall found himself pressing his lips against Cloud's neck, ever so softly, just wanting to know how it felt to be touched like that.

It was a sensation to touch the other, but when those blond spikes fell backwards, the head soon resting on Squall's shoulder, the brunet could only inhale deeply that spicy fragrance that was filling his nose so sweetly and fall into blissful state of mind. He forgot he was suppose to work at the same time, he forgot the people below on the floor, he forgot the twins seeing him and Cloud swaying slowly from side to side, he forgot that he was not suppose to do things like these to someone who was not his to touch. A gentle smile reached his lips that were still lingering over the blonds neck. He could get used to this nervous happiness that tickled the bottom of his stomach like there were butterflies fluttering their wings.

All good things come and end and so did the magical moment of theirs as Squall finally snapped back to present time and noticed that he should change the song again. Untangling his fingers and releasing Cloud's waist the brunet did another transition, noticing quite a few of the people dancing looking straight at them. Oh damn.. There would be no end to the gossips after this. He had to check his laptop for the song that would come up next and to do that, he had to turn more and thus, relieve Cloud from his warm prison against Squall's chest.

The blond took a polite step to the side, to be out of the way and looked stubbornly at the turntables, like there was little green men dancing on them. Had he gone too far already and made Cloud freak out? But the other seemed to reach for the forgotten water bottle and taking a long drink from it. Squall could just stare and feel jealous for the bottle that was able to touch those lips, now realizing how he yearned to lavish kisses on the soft skin. He bit his bottom lip and turned to his machines to prevent himself from making a bigger idiot out of himself.

The rest of the set Squall managed to play thru without any more incidents or any more touches from either of the men. Cloud stood next to him -so maybe I didn't freak him out completely?- the whole time, his face back to being unreadable and beautiful as carved marble statues were, those blue eyes scanning the crowd, observing everything. Nothing was suggesting that the blond was bored or annoyed, but neither did the man seem to enjoy the evening, he just stood there. Gorgeous statue, indeed.

Eventually Squall played the last song, the much more sweatier mass of people cheering for a minute in appreciation for him giving out a good set of songs. The brunet closed his laptop and gathered the CD's with him. Someone had put on music from somewhere else, so there was no absolute silence at any time. Before either of them was able to say anything Squall just handed Cloud his CD case and took the laptop himself, motioning them to leave back to the room they were before.

The twins were nowhere to be seen when they reached the quieter space and Squall slumped on the couch, tired and sighed. His eyes followed Cloud who entered the room more slowly and placed the case next to the brunet. Only the blonds eyes revealed some emotion, pale lashes blinking as if to say; I don't know what to do.

"Wanna go somewhere?" There was no point at staying here anyway. Squall never had felt compelled to stay to see the twins, or anyone else, to perform and was ready to leave if the other wanted to. To where, that he didn't know. He only knew he wanted to continue seeing Cloud. To see him breath, to see him flutter those eyelashes, to see him blush for whatever reason..

"Yeah." Cloud's eyes, they were darker in this bright yellowish light and had a tired depth in them, like frozen pools of water. Squall wanted nothing more than to just melt the tiredness and awaken the blond man into such passion it would make those beautiful eye shine like no tomorrow. They both startled out of their intense staring, as they heard an amused cough from the one doorway that led not into the stage nor back to the club, but even deeper into the backroom area. Sora and Roxas were standing there and were watching the older men with their eyes shining brightly.

"We won't wait you to turn up this night!" Sora grinned widely and got a slap to the back of his head from his brother -they seemed to enjoy this punching quite a lot-. " Uh, I mean.. We ain't gonna be home before 5am anyway so.. you know. The flat is unoccupied. Leave the CD's and laptop and we'll take.. good care of them. Yeeeaaaahh... we're gonna like.. go now. To do.. stuff. Have fun!" Sora's brown spikes were the last thing the older pair saw as Roxas had pulled his twin back to where they had emerged from.

Both looked after the boys for a while, a slightly stunned impression on their faces, then looked at each other and grinned. Squall stood up and just shrugged, walking into the corridor that led to the door into club, Cloud following him quickly. As they walked to the door that opened behind the amplifiers near the stage, the brunet felt again Cloud's hand catching his own.

"I don't like big crowds.." Was the only explanation Squall heard. He smiled to himself and squeezed gently the shy hand in his, leading them into the damp, stuffy and heavy air of the actual club, pushing thru the drunken goths and generally weird people. Since the place was rather full now, it took a while for them to get to the wooden doors that lead to the stairs up and towards the fresh air. Squall noticed his head to ache a little. The pain was throbbing behind his eyes, trying to form into a migraine. Not now..

Finally he pushed the iron door open and stepped on the sidewalk, letting go of Cloud's hand and stretched his arms up in the air and yawned blissfully. The club was nice and all, but it damn well made him feel sleepy, especially after having a show to do. He eyed the dark street and its yellow lamps, trying to figure what to do next when his eyes spotted something black.. something definitely awesome on the other side of the street.

"Please don't tell me that there is your bike?" Cloud managed to snicker softly and nodded then, walking towards it.

"Yeah, that's my Fenrir." The blond sounded like he was talking about someone living, not just a machine. Ok, a seriously cool piece of machinery, but still. Seeing the other walking ahead of him, reaching the black bike and touching it gently -it looked like Cloud was greeting the bike- was enough for Squall to drool mentally. Steaming hot sight to see!

"Suits you." Cloud smiled gently at the comment and leaned down to pull his pants' hem up and revealed not only a nice and simple pair of black boots but also Squall saw the pale skin to flash from under the fabric. He was about to avert his eyes but when Cloud rose up he saw that the blond had took out from the shank of his boots a pair of rather big pair of knives. "Erm.. Should I be worried now?" He cocked his eyebrow to the other, who blinked innocently and then glared at the pair of sharp objects in his hand.

"No, unless you plan to drug me and rape me after I'm unconscious. " A sheepish grin found its way to Cloud's lips and he opened a the stable to put the knives into safety there. Squall kept staring at the blond, not knowing should he be amused for the sarcastic comment or blush because he did want to do things to the others body.. But not without Cloud's consent. Sheesh.. he would never do anything even close to that. It was wrong and made his rage lift its ugly head inside him. To think someone could've done something to the blond yesterday.. Made him mad! Also, what point it would be, to have the other unconscious, when it was so much more fun to do all the sweaty things together. Mm, sweaty Cloud..

Cloud was staring at him, sitting now over the bike, ready to drive off and was observing the brunet's fuming, one eyebrow high. Squall coughed, his cheeks burning faintly. The last things he had thought was about how vocal the blond would be under the right circumstances. Hence the blush on his cheeks this time. He swallowed hard, pushing the tormenting thoughts away.

"Not going to." Stepping closer to the man and his bike, Squall wondered was he supposed to climb behind the other and hold on tight? Heh, ride together into the sunset. Too bad it was already dark and stars shone somewhere above them -though they never saw them here, in the middle of the city since there were too many artificial lights-, otherwise it would have been like in the old western movies. Amused him to no end.

"Yeah, you are probably as dangerous as a kitten, aren't you." Cloud grinned and then patted the free space behind him. "Come, let's drive." Squall managed to glare angrily for a moment before melting into a smile and climbed behind the other. The black monster under them let out a soft roar as Cloud turned the ignition. "Hold on tight."

Squall had only few seconds time to wrap his arms around Cloud's waist as they already were speeding down the street. He pressed again close to the blond's back, seeking warmth as he felt the cool night air send chills down his spine. He had been stupid enough to forget his jacket at home when he had left for work. Cloud drove fast and steady ahead the quiet streets, his whole body felt relaxed under Squall's arms, like the other was one with the machine. Another new side of Cloud that made the brunet like the other even more.

He felt himself also relaxing and letting his thoughts to drift, trusting the blond to know their destination. The air was pushing the blond spikes on Squall's face and the sweet smell of the soft locks filled his mind. He wanted to run his bare fingers thru that hair again, hear the other man breath deeply and steady, wanted to feel that heartbeat close to his and wake up next to him and watch the sunbeams dancing on the pale skin.

He had never really thought of himself to be a guy to wonder about little things, like how different light would make the eye color of the other to change, how soft whispering of sweet words could make one blush and smile shyly, or how he never had thought that a simple touch, such as it had been on the stage, could cause his heart to ache in such a pleasant way. There was no room in his mind for negative things now, all he wanted was to stay like this, bodies close. Though it would be interesting turn of events if there would be no clothes at all. Damn, here he went again for the forbidden things!

Squall had to discard the naughtier thoughts of his, since it would be more than a little embarrassing to get too exited, as he was pressed against Cloud's back, no way of escaping either at the moment and an emergency stop from this speed would be rather.. fatal. Not to mention he did not want to express his desires this easily, it just was so damn hard to think straight when he had someone so insanely gorgeous driving him down the ruins of the city, the dark metallic beast purring under them.

Cloud finally slowed down and rolled the bike carefully across the piles of rubble and pieces of fallen buildings around them everywhere. Squall had to blink twice as he saw the destruction so close. He had been away from the town so many years, he had missed the obvious disaster that happened in the near past. The bike stopped and the blond put his feet down and looked up at the one building that was still half standing, its figure recognizable. A church?

"Come, let's go in." Cloud pulled the leg of the bike out and waited for the brunet to stand up first, then following him. The blond walked silently towards the old building, suddenly in obvious inner turmoil that made Squall want to grab the others hand and stroke it soothingly and say there was nothing to worry about. He simply followed the man ahead of him, wondering what connection Cloud had to this place in the first place.

There were no doors left to be opened, they seemed to be shattered about in small pieces, inside the church seemed to be in same kind of destruction than the outside world was, but in the middle of the ruins there was something glistening in the pale light that poured up from the open roof -the lack of roof would better-. Squall marveled the serenity of the place, his headache tuning itself down, his senses relaxing, it was like someone was soothing his very soul and smiling gently at him.

"What is this place?" He managed only to whisper, a louder voice felt like a crime to make, so peaceful the room felt. Cloud had knelt down on the edge of the water that was the source of the shine, the faint glow of it reflecting over the pale features.

"This is where I come when I'm troubled. I know she's not here anymore but this is where I feel her presence more than anywhere else." Cloud's voice was no louder than a whisper either. His eyelids half closed, watching the surface of the water move slowly in the breeze that blew gently thru the church.

"She?" Squall's heart ached so badly for the thought of this man belonging to someone else already.

"Aerith. A friend from my past. She died, but she was special in the way that she.. " Cloud looked up at the brunet who was standing near him. "Aer died in the hands of.. of.. one definitely disturbed person, but she was.. she still remained here, you know. Somehow. She was.. I was.. well, I don't know was it because of Zack's feelings for her or were there any of my own involved.. from her part or mine.. but she was dear no matter what." Cloud had end up talking about things that did not really open to Squall, not with the lack of the whole story.

But he saw the brilliant blue eyes, in this darkness they were more like the depths of the sea itself, glimmering, gathering tears to be shed down the smooth cheeks. It was too much for the brunet to bear and he knelt beside the blond and, after short moment of hesitation, reached his fingers to touch gently the cheek, caressing the skin carefully.

"Hey.. don't be sad. I have a hunch that she wants you to be happy." Without even knowing how close he had hit with that comment, only seeing Cloud's eyes to widen and blink few times, erasing the moistness that had warned about the tears. The blond seemed to lean a little to Squall's touch and sighed.

"I know I should be.. but.." A finger cut his sentence as Squall had pressed it against the lips and was shaking his head.

"No buts. Don't think so much." His voice was barely audible, so lost he was in the blue abysses of the other that he didn't even notice he had leaned closer, their faces now only an inch away. Removing his finger from the partly open lips he now felt the warm breathing of the other, not being able to resist himself as he reached even further, the dry surface of their lips not quite touching, but being so close they both were nearly tasting each.

Lost in the moment, Squall could only sense something telling him that he should act on his instincts, not to care about rights or wrongs. The only thing that mattered was how his breath was mixed with Cloud's -who was not moving, but had closed his eyes, the air that touched Squall's lips felt like it trembled-, how the soft skins were almost touching, in his chest his heartbeat increasing its speed rapidly.

Squall caressed the soft cheek slowly with his fingertips, marveling the how velvety it felt, tilted his head to right only a little and pressed his lips carefully forward, gently and so terrified that it would ruin everything about this moment. But there was no protesting, no pulling away, no curses voiced. Cloud seemed to freeze for a moment before a small accepting noise rose from the blonds throat and Squall felt the shy response to his kiss as the lips moved for a better touch.

The mere taste of Cloud was enough to send Squall into heavens of ecstasy, to take the man before him roughly, but he didn't, it would have been close to a blasphemy if he had been harsh now. The blond man screamed with his entire being for soft touches and the sweetest kisses there could ever be. Squall took his time to plant kisses on the soft surface, the upper lip and lower both got separate touches, the brunet inhaling the faint sounds that rose from Cloud's mouth into his. He pulled back only for a moment to moist his dry lips before bending down again to lavish the sensitive lips.

The blonds breath hitched a little as Squall licked the dry bottom lip slowly, nipping it gently, then replying the gesture to the upper part and finally pushing their mouths together completely. Savoring the blond was amazing since it felt like a dream come true, and it made his stomach twist in such a pleasurable way as the other responded to his tongue that slid slowly into Cloud's mouth. The moist flesh met in between, sending a course of shivers down Squall's spine.

Tongues swirling slowly together, merely exploring the sensations for the first time, it deepened the kiss to a level that made them both wrap their arms for a better hold onto each other and tangle fingers into blond and brown hair, pulling their faces closer, never losing that gentle slow pace, nothing else mattering but their closeness and the blooming passion.

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

For some reason the song Reno had played at the club -the last thing he could remember from yesterday- was stuck in his head right now, at this very moment when he was being held so gently, kissed ever so tenderly it would have made his knees soft and give out, luckily he was half-sitting already. Cloud thought that Squall really was like an ecstasy, wrapped into that tight, gorgeous packet, setting his skin on fire from his neck where the long fingers were touching the blond hair.

Not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined a kiss to ever be anything like this. It had taken him by surprise, yes, but not that he had been oppose to the idea of the brunet to get those delicious lips of his against his own. And those lips definitely sent his defenses crumbling down. Cloud had his fingers in the mass of brown hair, tugging the long, silky strands without even realizing doing so, wanting to be more closer. He fell from his knelt down-position back on his ass to sit legs now straight before him. The kiss broke because of this, only to be continued as Squall crawled on Cloud's lap and with a smooth move brought their swollen lips back together.

They both let out a soft whimper as the pleasure ran thru their bodies for the connection, passion much more present in their actions. Cloud felt his head swimming in a foggy place, trying to get a hold of the current things and put a stop to it, but end up only to feel so cherished and wanted, that he gave up and went with the flow. Squall's weight was pressing against his lap and he was rather thankful that the kiss had stayed enough chaste to keep them from arousing too much. Not that it was not far.. The brunet had his left hand behind Cloud's back to support him, the right was massaging his scalp -a gesture that made the blond want to purr in delight- and that intoxicating fragrance of the other filled his nose, going up from there to his head, making him even more dizzy.

Cloud had his arms wrapped around Squall's shoulders, one hand playing with the impossibly soft hair and the other gently stroking the back of the other. Now that he was able to touch the brunet, Cloud noticed how well formed the shoulders were, the spine sticking out a little. He must work out as obsessively as I do then, Cloud mused with that small sane part of his mind.

Slowly the kiss turned to its end, they both taking the last nipping at the opponents swollen flesh, then resting their foreheads together, eyes closed and breathing uneven and heavy. The blond was lost in his delirium, not wanting the warmth ever to end, but hesitantly opened his eyes and gazed up to see the other, who was bathing in the pale starlight thru the roof, eyes dark mouths to oblivion looking straight at him.

"Hi there you.." The brunet whispered so quietly and leaned down to kiss once more Cloud's lips, then smiling tenderly. Cloud felt himself melting into a soft smile.

"Hi.." If his cheeks were not red from before they sure were now as he was blushing. He leaned forward and hid his face to the others shoulder. He felt shy, even after that little kiss they had shared, confused too. Could this really be happening? Or had Squall just seen his misery as he had been thinking about the lost friend and acted on pity..? So many vain questions, he didn't want to think of them now.

"Better?" The brunet's warm breath was on Cloud's ear, the air hit the skin and made him weak, so sensitive his whole body felt right now. He was being held in a tight embrace, sheltered from the world and responsibilities, and he let out a relieved sigh.

"Yeah." Squall was stroking his back, the fingers drawing the lines of Cloud's muscles. As the caress swept over one particular part of the blonds back, it sent sudden jolt of electricity down his spine and straight southwards and since the other was sitting on his lap it would be very, very awkward if the brunet would hit that same spot more that twice again. He let out a little noise and lifted his head. "Ah.. um.. I.." He tried to find the stormy eyes, to make the other stop the stroking, to get out from this position, anything that there would be no embarrassing proof of his body reacting to the brunet.

Squall tilted his head back and found Cloud's eyes, loosening his hold. There was something in that look that the blond had not seen before and he didn't recognize it. He bit his lip confused, trying to find words for this situation they were in. What was this situation anyway? Where did it put them? What did it make them? Cloud was suddenly filled with extreme happiness and want for the other and the same time he felt scared that this was just a fling for the other, that he would be tossed away in no time. But he wanted to believe that Squall would want more than just a one moment of tender caress.

"Hey, you still with me here?" The brunet poked the tip of Cloud's nose with his own. The blond swallowed hard, snapping back to reality and felt a rush of relief and joy when he again looked into the eyes before him. That look wiped his doubts away in a matter of seconds and he found himself smiling and nodding in response.

Squall backed up from the blond's lap finally and sat on the wooden floor before him, the heart shaped face serious and eyes still locked onto the blue ones. It looked like the the other wanted to say something, but had lost his voice. Cloud marveled the beautiful features, eyes fixing upon the scar crossing bridge of the nose.

He didn't even realize for doing so, but found himself soon touching that part of Squall's face, with one finger trailing along with the mutilated surface. The brunet simply had closed his eyes, letting Cloud to explore. Wondering how it had gotten there in the first place, he leaned forward and pressed a shy kiss over the scar. This caused Leon to snap his eyes open and to stare at the blond with a questioning look. Cloud dropped his hand quickly.

"An old battling scar. I got careless when I was younger." The brunet offered an explanation without him having to voice the question. Cloud nodded, he knew how easy that could be.

"So.. you wanna meet me someday? You know.. for that ass kicking you promised?" What he had wanted to ask was if there could be date in a different kind of setting, but dared not to go there, still having a hard time to believe it had not been a kiss out of pity. Squall blinked and cocked one finely shaped eyebrow.

"Uh.. yeah. Sure." Did Cloud hear disappointment in the others voice? No, he must have imagined it in his own hopeful mind.

"Yeah.. um, great. I probably have to work next week but we can settle the day on phone too.. or.. something." Cloud lost his voice in the end of his sentence, not knowing where to put his hands and what to do with himself. Squall offered a half a smile and nodded.

"Sounds good. So.. what kind of weapon do you wield?"

This was a subject that was safe enough for them to go on about for a while, neither of them really knew how to go back to the terribly tempting kiss-subject. So they discarded the whole matter and got lost into talking about their weapons, techniques and forgetting completely that it was late and had already been when they got there.

Eventually they stood up, after having talked enough, falling into comfortable silence. Squall looked around him, scanning the shattered pillars, fallen roof, exploded benches and inhaled deeply. Cloud examined the brunet, wanting to caress that long mane so badly but was hesitant to make a move.

"I'll drive you home if you want to." And since he was curious to know where Squall lived it most certainly was no problem to him. But the other shook his head.

"Just drop me somewhere near the club, I need to pick up my laptop from there."

"Oh, right. But didn't the twins say they'd take care of it?"

"I forgot that you don't know them.." Squall smirked. "There is absolutely not a chance that they would have actually taken it with them. Seriously, those two can't remember a blasted thing. Sometimes I wonder how do they manage to remember they need to breath. Especially Sora." Cloud hid his smile behind his hand. The mental images of the twins doing CPR on each other was rather disturbing and hilarious.

They walked out of the church and Cloud saw Squall taking a final glance at the place, then turning to face him with a small smile on his lips. Oh fuck, why is it so hard to admit that I just want to take him into my arms and kiss him senseless? We did kiss, did we not? So what the fuck happened after that? Frustrated with himself, the blond mounted the bike and turned the ignition. The purr the machine let out, soothed his nerves somehow enough to look up at the brunet again.

"This place really is something. I almost understand why you say that your friend is still around." Squall climbed behind him and took a firm hold of Cloud again, the contact of their bodies sending a thrilling jolt thru his body. "Thank you for bringing me over." Squall's voice was so low and cool, so near to Cloud's ear again it made him want to push the bike from his hands and tackle the other onto the ground. He sighed and drove them out towards the city.

Finally they stood again on the street that they had left, hours ago. It was still crowded with people who were leaving from the club, wandering in their drunken states around the street. Squall stood next to Cloud who sat over the bike, intending to drive home. The brunet shuffled on his feet, eyes darting from the blond to the asphalt.

"So.. Thanks. For coming."

"I had fun. Really." Cloud smiled, feeling a little tired now, his thoughts running on their pessimistic roads, making him believe there was never going to be anything between them. But just as he was about to say his farewells Squall stepped closer, took a hold of Cloud's chin and lifted his face up. For a moment the blond was baffled, but soon felt the soft lips gently sweeping over his own. The touch lingered, like Squall did not want to let him go -a thought that Cloud really liked- but eventually leaned back up and smiled down at the blond.

"Good night gorgeous." And with that, the other walked away, leaving Cloud blushing.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_Oh dear, what will happen now? I loved writing this, definitely. I hope I didn't f*ck up the characters too badly.._

_Stay tuned for more!_


	6. Episode 6

Episode 6

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><p>Squall<p>

He was sitting in the kitchen, hair pointing at every damned direction, waiting cranky for the coffee to get ready so he could actually turn on his brains too. He had over-slept this morning and was afraid either of the twins to appear before he could get out of the way. He was not a morning person, no way in hell. He liked to crawl under his blanket just enough long to almost be late, but never was. He just usually felt guilty if he even thought about sleeping long. Ok, so it wasn't even 8am yet, but it still bothered him that he had missed the sunrise.

The bed had been so cozy as he woke up from his restless dreaming. When he had tried to fall asleep the covers were too hot, but when he kicked them off it was too cold. So he had tried just partially cover himself, but then his legs got cold and the pillow had been too flat too. Obviously he had growled at the items in bed, like they were purposely trying to make it impossible for him to sleep at all. At some point he had eventually managed to fall asleep. Maybe it had had something to do with the counting of pieces of blown up sheep. He so dearly hated those blasted sheep people told you to count.

He had not been able to sleep well, it had been mostly tossing and turning, not knowing how to tune his racing thoughts down. What he was thinking? Well.. Cloud. Obviously. Damn, he was so addicted it felt nauseating already. There really was nothing he could do about it, his head was up in the clouds all the time. Bitterly he snorted at the pun. In clouds indeed. That sweet blush on those pale cheeks yesterday had been the most adorable thing to see. Squall's heart ached, his body tingled, his breath got caught in his throat. All this because the other was not here, beside him.

The smell of strong coffee filled the room as Squall stared the coffeemaker, trying to make it finish its task faster. Usually this staring contest -which he did lose, every morning!- with the machine was plain blank staring, but this morning there was a that haunted soul-look in the stormy depths. Something about Cloud's demeanor alerted him, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. Tired, Squall rubbed his eyes and got up to take his mug from the shelf. Almost ready... pleeease be faster.. just this once.. pretty please.. yes? No? Damn you coffeemaker!

A long minute of intense staring before he could no longer wait for more and took the pot and poured the black liquid into his mug. He sat back down before the table, pulled the newspaper before him and sipping carefully the steaming coffee, he felt his brains slowly clearing, as if he had heard whirring and clinking sounds of little cogs inside his head starting to turn.

Suddenly he felt like he was being watched. He sighed and without lifting his eyes from the paper he knew it was Roxas -Sora had never been gracious enough to be quiet in the morning, or ever- , standing at the door, watching him. Probably didn't want to approach before he was sure Squall had had enough coffee to not jump on the boy and strangle him.

"Morning Rox. How was he gig?" The blond boy let out a breath he had been holding and moved towards the coffeemaker also.

"Good, a lot of people." Squall heard how Roxas poured milk into his coffee. "But I'm sure we were not even close as interesting to see as you and your friend were." The boy was carefully choosing his words, trying not to piss the brunet off. Squall just shrugged, kept on reading the paper, drinking his coffee.

"Heard anything?"

"Not much. Girls were enjoying themselves since you and Cloud _are_ rather hot to look at. Not to mention when you were... doing that thing together. The floor was practically flooding with drool." For this the older man raised his eyes to the blond boy sitting now across him at the table, jaw resting on his knees, legs pulled up against his chest. Roxas looked tired and Squall furrowed his brow.

"Did something happen? You look tired." But the boy just shook his spiky head, sighing and rubbing his eyes in manner that looked a perfect imitation of what Squall had done before.

"No, nothing like that. Sora just kept me awake because of the nightmares." The brunet made a noise that was supposed to be sympathetic. "He doesn't say much what happens in the dreams, but he did say they are nearly all about our mother." Oh, right.. The twins didn't know their mother and had came to live with him by an accident. A good accident, of course, since Squall cared for the boys deeply and would have done anything to keep them away from any harm. But to nightmares, even he did not know the cure for.

"They'll stop eventually, I'm sure." He had bad dreams sometimes too, but Sora was plain scary when he was in the midst of a nightmare. The first time had been back when the boys were only 12 years old and the mere memory still made him shiver and feel very sorry for the younger twin.

There was a noise on the door again and both males looked up as Sora walked in, with a sleepy smile on his face and hair possibly even more spikier than usually, wearing his old bathing robe and bunny slippers, generally looking rather adorable. He slumped next to his twin, leaned closer to nuzzle his face to the blonds shoulder for a moment.

"The dark night can destroy my sleep, but it can never touch my heart. Not when I have you two beside me. It's just my head, messing with me. Stupid trauma for being abandoned as a child." He yawned and stretched his arm up in the air, then scratching his head and looking at Roxas with eyes still drowsy. "Coffee, please?"

Roxas simply complied, rising to do what was asked and Squall still not believing Sora to be able to be so damn cheery, even after a night of horrors.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. I-talk-philosophical-shit-first-in-the-morning."

"Fuck you, Squall." Sora grinned and took the steaming mug Roxas handed to him. "But seriously, it's nothing. I get over it, like I always do." Squall cocked one eyebrow and glanced at the more silent and definitely tired looking twin. Yeah.. most likely Sora was right, but what about Roxas? The older brunet was sure that the younger twin was slowly reaching his limits to handle his brothers nightly madness. His eyes followed Sora's free hand that reached over the small gap between the twins and found its way to Roxas' hand, entwining their fingers into a loose grip. But like always, Sora most likely knew the limits of his brother as well as Squall could see.

For a moment there was comforting silence, each of them having their thoughts turned towards their coffees, letting the morning sun lighten the small kitchen, resting over their tussled hair and soothing weariness away with gentle caress of the golden rays.

"Soooo... I take it you didn't get any last night since you are able to sit there so comfortably?"

"SORA!" Roxas yanked his hand free and slapped his brothers head, Squall letting out a groan of frustration and wanting to hit his head to the table. No manners, seriously! He took a deep breath and looked at the annoyingly smiling boy, who obviously was not caring that he was being too straightforward and obnoxious for his own good.

"What? It's a simple question! No need to get angry at me. I can see perfectly well, you know, and my eyes did tell me -and my brother who's into domestic violence so much- that you, my dear friend from the angsty realm, are so badly into this new friend of yours. Very pretty one, too, I might add. "A moment of silence and then the boy flashed a manic grin. "I'd fuck him, so why didn't you? Or why didn't he fuck you, since it was clear as this morning is, that he wanted you as much?" Roxas was groaning next to Sora, trying to figure should he flee now or stay to watch Squall to beat the crap out of the smaller brunet.

"One word more and I'll ground you for the rest of the year." Squall tried to sound menacing.

"Oh.. really? But I'm not underaged anymore, so I guess that makes your threat rather empty."

"... just shut up. Roxas, tell your brother to grow up, please."

"Sora, stop being so rude. But Squall, he is right. Why are you alone here and not in bed with Cloud?" Now the twins were both staring at Squall who slowly was gathering dark red on his face, a mix of deep embarrassment and rage.

"Fine!" He gave up and threw his hands in the air. "I don't know why he is not here or me there. There was something between us but Cloud never expressed his possible interest in me that much." Though.. the kiss had been eager. And the other had been blushing quite a lot every time Squall had complimented the man about something. But still the blond had been restrained, leaving him believing that the other was just following Squall's actions but not having any real feelings involved.

"Oh believe me he wants you. I can't believe you refuse to see that! The man is obviously falling for you, no matter that you two only met like two days ago." Sora crossed his arms before him and smiled knowingly, Roxas nodding in agreement. Squall wrinkled his nose and snorted in disbelief.

"Sure, whatever. But you weren't there to see how he acted aft... um, I mean. Nothing." He slapped himself mentally for letting that last part to slip from his mouth. Damn, now there would be even more embarrassing questions! He really didn't want to discuss about his romantic life, or the lack of it, with these two. But they insisted on poking their noses into everything and Squall could never prevent that from happening. He loved them to bits, but sometimes he wished they'd just drop it.

"HA! I knew something happened! Tell us everything!" Two pairs of blue eyes glued their intense glare at him and Squall sighed, defeated once more. So he told them about the kiss and how Cloud had reacted the way it made him think the other had just went with him and had no feelings. The twins wrinkled their noses, tapping their lips with one finger, mimicking each others moves.

"I think he's confused. Maybe he doesn't know what to do?" Next to Roxas, Sora was nodding.

"Since we can swear on our lives the man _is_ interested in you. Honestly, Squall.." Sora's face looked serious for once. "Maybe he has some trust issues? Do you know anyone who knows him?" Squall had his face buried by now to his hands, a small part of him falling into despair. Sora's last question making the man peek thru his fingers.

"Someone who.. Oh! I do! Reno knows him." A smile spread over the twins' faces for this. "I'll call Reno today, but I first have to go over to Cid's."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Cid! Are you in here?" Squall knocked on the door of the garage he knew the blond man nearly lived in. He heard a loud crash and even louder cursing, heading towards the noise. No one else could mutilate words like that man could.<p>

"The FUCK is wrong with'em bastards who obviously know absolutely a shit 'bout piling them crappy pipes like this!" Squall found the source of the cursing kicking a pile of gray metallic pipes. "Oh hiya kid. This'll take sum time. Make yerself at home."

"Need help?"He found the situation incredibly amusing, it never was boring to come and see Cid at his garage where he build all those parts for his aircraft.

"Nah, ye just wait. How're ye doin' kiddo? Still havin' them problems?" Cid started to gather the lying objects into one bigger and more stable stack. He glanced behind him at the brunet who was leaning against one of Cid's cars that was being ripped into parts. "Com'on, ye can tell me."

"Mm.." Squall mused for a moment, wondering if it would be wrong to rant about this matter again. He decided it wasn't. "Well, there is someone I'm interested in, but I'm uncertain of him. You know.. he's kind of shy, brooding and a loner -don't look at me like that, I know it sounds like me!- and he makes me.. incredibly happy when he's around and now that he's not I have trouble concentrating on anything but thinking of him." Cid had paused his work and was looking at the younger man with a serious face.

"Sounds like ye got yerself in a mess. Who's the lucky lad?" The man went back to his task again, lifting easily two pipes at the same time.

"This one gorgeous blond, whom I met thru Reno. Likes to fight too. And I think he lives with this one girl, Tifa. Don't really know much more.." There was two clank's as the pipes Cid had been holding, fell onto the floor and the man himself turning fast to look at Leon with a stunned look on his face.

" CLOUD? Ye gotta be kiddin' me kid! Ye tellin' me that ye have fixed yer eye on him!" He shook his head and scratched his chin. "Ye two are similar, I hafta admit that. Good luck tho'. Ye gonna need it. Cloud ain't the easiest to get thru to." It was Squall's turn to stare at his friend, his mouth open and eyes wide.

"You... know him?" He couldn't believe his ears, not for a moment. Maybe he didn't have to call Reno after all.

"Sure as hell I do. Was traveling around with him and sum others few years ago." Cid pointed at the top of his head. "Cloud might be a pretty one, but a bloody great with his sword! Deadly too. If I was ye, I'd challenge him." Cid let out a loud laughter. "But ye gotta remember to tell me if ye do. I wanna see ye getting yer bony arse whacked!"

Squall snorted loudly and crossed his arms to his chest, thinking. He did remember Cid telling him about his journeys with a group of talented warriors, but he had never guessed that Cloud could be a fearsome opponent. The idea for the sparring was starting to tempt him even more. Squall reached for his phone to write a message, letting Cid finish his cleaning in the meantime.

"Cid, do you know if... Cloud has had.. you know.. a boyfriend before?" He asked after a moment of silence. Cid raised his eyebrow and looked up to ceiling for a while.

"Well.. I can't be sure. Cloud wont really talk about that shit to anyone." Cid shrugged. "But I think the kid is just lonely." The man glanced at Squall with a grin placed over his lips. "I might bet me munnies for ye though, if ye get thru that boy!" He grinned widely and wiped his hands to his pants. "Now 'tis done! Let's get the hell outta here before I go and kill my friggin' assistants!"

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

The lazy feeling of doing nothing but staring at his phone and thinking of yesterday was lingering around Cloud's body, making him paranoid and giddy, heartbroken and in love. He had woken up with a smile on his lips, since the dreams had been filled with the images of the brunet man. He was feeling heavy with worry, since he didn't want to fall this easily, but the same time he was light as a feather, head filled with fluff and sweetness. If there was a cure for this madness, he wasn't aware of it. Nor did he know if he really wanted to be cured.

He glared at the tiny screen once again, imagining himself writing a message and actually sending it. Groaning, he closed the cover and tossed the item on his bed. He should do something, instead of moping here.

He made his way downstairs, searching for Tifa but was unable to locate the girl anywhere. It was so quiet here now that Denzel had been placed into new foster home and Marlene was back with Barret. Cloud had liked the children, though he'd never admit it to anyone. Just him and Tifa, who was being very clear that she wanted to have more of her own time and space. So of course Cloud felt useless around here. Without the delivery service, he most likely had moved out already to somewhere else. Maybe that was what he should do.

Searching for the newspaper from the kitchen he noticed a note on the refrigerator door.

_'Wont be home until late, go out to eat or go to the grocery store and make dinner. Tell me later how the evening went! -Tifa '_

Right. So he was forced to cook now too. Well, that he could manage, it would give him something to do at least. Half of the morning he had already been obsessively cleaning the upstairs before slumping before his desk to stare the phone, typing messages and erasing them as quickly as he wrote them. He didn't know how sort out his head for the matter called Squall.

He knew for sure he liked the other, everything in him screamed the fact to be true, but he was so damn hesitant. Why? Because he was so damn scared he would be nothing but a pretty little trophy on the shelf of Squall's previous conquers. Though he didn't know for sure there were many of those. So it was an irrational fear. And he didn't go and start to trust anyone he had only met few days ago. No matter how his heart wanted to trust the brunet, his head didn't follow that fast.

He knew few things about the other, based on what they had talked and how he had been treated by Squall. The man was incredibly easy to be with, had good manners and did not offend him with uneasy questions. When they were close, it was easy to feel happy, to be a little reckless and give in his hearts desires. He had wanted to be there with the man, had wanted it so badly it made him nauseated.

Based on the kiss they had shared.. Squall was pretty damn sure one heck of a lover too. His actions told Cloud that he was nothing but true to his word, had black sense of humor and had the most dazzling smile on the face of Earth. And the man simply made Cloud's knees weak every time he thought about the other. So what was the damn problem, then?

Ok, so he had trust issues. But could anyone blame him for having them? He had lost two of his most beloved friends under very serious circumstances, his idol had turned out to be a raging lunatic and had eventually tried to eliminate Cloud, and everyone else on top of that. Twice! And the whole issue with his head going a little weird about Zack and believing to be him and all that confusing jazz.. It was rather clear to him that he had only lately started to feel like himself again.

And now Tifa wanted to kick him out, or so he had figured from the way she was acting. His world would crumble if that was true. She was his rock he trusted to be there thru his life. Oh god.. Have I managed to get stuck with myself again? Last time he had felt better, after the lunatics trying to kill everyone had been caught, but now he was slipping back to his old brooding manners. So if he could not trust himself even, how could he trust anyone else? So many questions he needed to answer.

Cloud sighed, finding the newspaper and fiddled it idly, having already forgotten what he was suppose to do with it. Yeah, he should get to the store and make dinner to get his mind off from this matter for a while. He tossed the unread paper to the table and wondered back to his room to get his wallet. He managed to enter the room just when his phone was blinking, informing an incoming message. Oh god, what if it was from Squall? For a moment he just stared at the thing, blinking on the sheets happily.

Heart racing wildly in his chest, he took the phone and opened it. Yeah, the message was from the brunet. Oh man.. He wanted to open it, but was afraid it would contain something that would make him jump out of his skin even more. His mouth was dry and cheeks burning as he tried to gather enough courage to read the message. He pressed the button and the text opened before his eyes.

_'I'm challenging you, right now. If you happen to be interested in trying to kick my ass, I'll be around the fields at the north border, straight down the Highway 8 and out of the city. Can't miss me since there's nothing else there.'_

Cloud grinned widely. Now that was something he knew how to react to! If there was a way of knowing if the man was worthy of his trust, a good old sword fight would be the one. It was a good thing he had prepared Fenrir yesterday fully already, he would be able to leave immediately if he wanted. Typing an answer, Cloud half ran out of the room.

_'Challenge accepted.'_

Soon there was only the roar of Fenrir heard as the blond man on his bike sped away, dinner forgotten completely.

* * *

><p>Cloud had no trouble finding his way to the fields where Squall said he would be waiting for him to show up. All the way to there, he had been thinking how perfect it was to fight the other, that it was probably the best -and only- way to find out what Squall was really made of and could he put his trust into the other, like his heart already told him but his head refused to believe it.<p>

Fenrir let out last soft purr before the blond shut the engine down and parked the bike on the small path that led further to the area Squall was standing. One thing bothered Cloud though.. Squall wasn't alone and from what he could see, the other person looked disturbingly familiar in Cloud's eyes. Hesitantly the blond waved his hand in response as Squall had noticed him and walked towards with his company.

"Hey. Good to see you again." The brunet offered a small smile to Cloud who nodded, eyes following the two men.

"Same to you." He eyed the older blond that was standing a little left from Squall, paler blue eyes twinkling deviously. " Uh.. Hi Cid."

"'lo kid. 'sup?" Cid grinned back at him, winking.

"I.. uh, came to see Squall. You two know each other?"

"Hell yeah! The kid is brilliant with computers and was working at my old firm at Twilight Town." Cid leaned to his spear he rarely went out without and chewed on his lip, eying the two younger men. "I kinda invited myself here after the dummy here said he's gonna kick your butt. Well, try at least!" His grin turned into laughter. Cloud could only roll his eyes.

"I'm sure you did.."

"So, knock yourselves out kid's! Imma gonna be judgin' yer fight, from safe distance anyway." Something in the way Cid was looking at Cloud and Squall, made the blond feel a little nervous. The brunet was quiet, fiddling the handle of his weapon. Cloud fixed his eyes on the item, deciding it was definitely the most peculiar looking weapon so far he had seen. It sort of resembled the one Yazoo had wielded few years ago, thought this one was much more.. well, more simple design and without the unnecessary little parts and of course, suited Squall.

"Can I see your weapon?" Cloud asked, his voice obviously bringing the brunet out of his reverie. The other looked like he was asked to remove his arm and hand it over, which made Cloud smile internally; a true mark of a warrior.

".. sure." He handed the weapon over to the blond who took it and eyed the smooth silver surface. There was a carving of a roaring lion's head, the image reminding Cloud immediately of the brunet.

"I don't want to use my Buster against you, so I'll just measure the weight of this one and take one or two parts to match. " He smiled a little to the worried expression on the others features. "I won't break your blade, don't worry.."

"No.. I just.. I didn't.. Argh.. Whatever." Squall turned his glare to the ground, looking ashamed.

Cloud chuckled softly, took few steps away from the two men and swung the blade in the air, testing it's weight and balance. It was a good weapon, thought it looked rather weird with its rifle handle. Easy to wield, well at least for him since he had been using swords many, many years. He swung the blade again before him it the air, the sharp edge cutting the air with smooth whooshing sound. Sharp too. It seemed that Squall definitely took good care of the weapon.

Cloud sent the weapon up into air with an easy flick of his wrist, the silver surface glimmering in the faint light that poured thru the clouded sky, and then quickly resuming the handle back to his hand. Very nice work, indeed. The blond straightened his arm before him, the same height as his eyes were and peered to the tip of the blade, one eye closed.

"You said yesterday you can't make it actually shoot the bullets?" Squall was looking at him, eyes dark and a faint blush on his cheeks and shook his head.

"The upgraded version can do that, but I can't afford it. Too damned expensive." Cloud nodded, spun the sword once more and then handed it back to its wielder, the hilt first.

"I know the feeling.. Took me two years to get this version of my Buster together." He opened the front of Fenrir, revealing the hidden pieces of his beloved sword and took two of them out. After few clicks Cloud had a matching pair for Squall's weapon in his hand, ready for use. The brunet whistled quietly.

"Can't wait to see them all put together.." Cloud's proud grin was enough evidence for anyone to know how much he loved that weapon of his.

"Shall we then?"


	7. Episode 7

Episode 7

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><p>Cid<p>

Cid had positioned himself in near distance, to keep himself safe from their fight and still to be able to see how well would the battle would turn out. Squall eyed Cloud, who was standing calm before him, about ten feet away, his sword resting over his shoulder. The blond looked at ease, like nothing would affect him, like nothing would cut thru his blank expression. Squall wore a similar unreadable expression, his gunblade resting in his hand deceptively loose, like the brunet could care less about the current situation. But when Cid looked at the brilliant blue eyes, glaring at Squall's gray blue ones.. He saw a fire burning that meant only one thing; the two were definitely enjoying the situation more than they expressed.

"Ready kids? 'k! GO!"

Neither of them moved first, they simply stared at each other trying to figure their first moves, trying concentrate on this moment without distractions. Cid's eyes moved between the two men, seeing so many similarities in the way they were standing, the way they held their weapons.. the way they sent out an aura of stubborn will to fight to the bitter end. He wished there would never be a situation where the two would be on the opposite sides for real. This was only for fun, but he knew how easy it was to get caught up in the heat of the fight. Lucky for the two, he was there to see there would be no fatalities.

Two low growls emitted from the facing men and they lunged finally ahead. At first it was careful movement, measuring each others tactics and the power of the wielding arm. There was a soft clank when the blades met first, neither men really striking for real yet. They backed down, eying each other, circling slowly around. They both shared enormous amount of patience in battle situation, that Cid knew from his own experience when he had been in similar situation with them both.

It took only a half a minute for them again to lunge towards, both swinging their blades in the air with more force this time. Now there was no backing up and the the two continued to strike without a pause.

Cloud was faster than Squall, his lithe body moving swiftly and dodging the blows Squall aimed at him, the silver of his sword countering the gunblade each time without any trouble. The blond took a few steps back, the flat of his blade working marvelously to deflect each attempted strike. Squall growled, like a lion that was being annoyed and spun his gunblade, its perfectly aimed blow meant to end up on Cloud's shoulder and to disarm him. Again the blond countered the attack.

Where Cloud had more dexterity and stronger arms to wield his sword easy, Squall was cunning and had more calculated moves, usually the blows were so close hitting their aimed marks it was amazing that Cloud managed to even get away from them. Cid smiled as he saw very clearly how well matched the two were. Probably equal when it came to fighting skills.

Cloud had dropped his defensive demeanor and moved with much more force against his opponent, the sword moving lightning-fast now, making the brunet to parry each attempt to hit him. It was mesmerizing to watch these two to fight. It felt like seeing some weird, serious dance, where the opponents got hurt and were bleeding. The weapons slashed the air and cut the fair skins lightly as they both managed to get thru the defenses time to time.

The battle seemed to last forever, neither of the fighters ceasing from attacking nor countering the strikes. Sweat was glistering on the bare arms, the fabrics of their shirts got stuck because of it to their backs and chests, but not once did they stop. And all the time they kept staring at each other, trying to make the other yield by sheer force of their glare.

Cid was pondering Squall's confession of him fancying the stoic blond. Knowing Cloud for years, he knew it was hard to gain the blond's trust, but for what he saw here, was something he had not expected. Cloud was making an eye contact with the brunet, not flinching away from the look like he had done only few years ago. The most remarkable notice that Cid did, was that the blond was actually smiling widely during the sparring. A genuine smile that spoke its own tale about what was happening to the other, and it was happening fast.

By looking at Squall, Cid noticed a same kind of change in motion. The brunet was also grinning widely, the whole being of the young man radiating the eagerness to be present in this precise moment. He had known them both years by now and knew when two people were meant to know each other. It was good to know there was always someone for you too, no matter how much of a loner you were.

The two were now circling again, breaths heavy and locks of hair glued to their faces, eyes fixed on every move they made.

It was either tiredness or something else was distracting Cloud -and Cid was willing to bet his money for the latter- because suddenly Squall had found a way to get thru the defenses of the other and had kicked the blond in his stomach, sending him flying backwards few feet. The hard impact with the ground seemed to empty Cloud's lungs and before Cid could blink twice, the brunet was standing over the other and the tip of his gunblade pressed against the blonds throat.

"Yield." Squall's face was made of victorious grin.

"Like hell I will." Cloud snarled from his laying position, quickly launching his left leg high, kicking Squall with force to his stomach, forcing the other to bend forward in pain and giving the blond the few seconds he needed to regain himself and flee from his near defeat. He stood the tip of his sword pressed to the ground a few steps away from Squall, who was leaning to his knees and trying ignore the pain the kick had left.

"Dirty tricks, I like it!" The brunet growled and at the same time they both lunged forward, swords meeting in the halfway in similar dazzling movement, sparks flying to each direction for the impact. Their blades were dancing that deadly dance of theirs with such speed it made Cid hold his breath and fear there would be some serious injury if either of them was foolish enough to get lost in their thoughts.

After an hour or two, the fighters were still at it, the shirts they wore were so soaked it was as if they had been running in pouring rain the whole time. Cid was certain the fight would never end because they were too skilled to yield to either and too stubborn to accept a tie. Although he enjoyed watching this waltz of blades, it was obvious the two men were getting nowhere but to blasted exhaustion and very, very sore muscles tomorrow. It was time to interfere.

Cid had his spear with him always and now he sneaked towards the berserk struck young men, who were too much into their fight they noticed nothing until it was a little too late. Squall went down first when Cid whacked him in the back of his head, the brunet looking stunned for a moment and then dropping on his knees and falling on his face. Cloud got the same treatment few seconds later and looked about as confused as the other had before falling on the ground next to his friend.

Cid sighed, grinned and fetched his phone from his pocket, eying the two men who were facing each other, looking rather adorable like that. Helpless like little kids. The older man snorted and wished the two good luck in the matter of heart, hoping it would not take a century for them to get thru each other.

"'lo Roxie! Yeah, it's your uncle Cid here. Wanna com' and get ye stupid roomie from the fields? Ahaha, he got into fightin' with Cloudy boy 'ere and theywouldn't stop so I knocked them out!" Cid laughed hard when there was similar cackle on the other side of the phone call.

* * *

><p>Sora &amp; Roxas<p>

"Honestly, how stupid can you be.." Roxas muttered as he and Sora were trying to drag Squall up to their apartment. The task seemed to be impossible since they were so much smaller than this pile of muscles.

"Yeah. And seriously.. how heavy can you get by not eating enough! Sheesh.. Squall should lose some weight." Sora was trying keep his balance and drag the man ahead. He eyed the stairs they should still climb and moaned. "Rox, I can't do this! And there's that blondie still to carry also.." He eyed his twin, pouting, over Squall's drooping head. "I'd rather carry you."

"I know. But we can't leave them sleeping in the car either." It had started to rain when they were driving out of the city to pick up the unconscious pair and to see Cid laughing his ass off. "We could wait for Cid to get here." Roxas eyed his brother, the same way he was looking at him. They dropped their heavy package without really caring if the package would get hurt in the act. Squall had never died because of little bruises anyway.

"Cid probably took Cloud's bike for a ride..." Sora snorted and sat on the stairs, Squall lying there, in a very uncomfortable looking position face on the wooden surface. "Can't blame him though. I'd give a lot if I could take that beauty for a ride." Roxas was nodding, looking out from the door that was open, their car parked there and Cloud sitting limb on the backseat.

They sat in silence for a while, watching the raindrops hitting the asphalt outside. It seemed to get heavier.

"He should be here already." Roxas sighed. He looked at the older man, laying on his face and felt a little bad for him. "Cid did hit them quite hard. I don't think I've ever seen Squall this badly out."

"Yeah, he's got too thick scull. Maybe it has gotten thinner during the time we've lived with him? I mean.. we kinda have thrown stuff at him over the years." The memories of their shared time together flooded back into Sora's mind and the boy smiled softly. "I really don't like to see him getting hurt, you know? Makes me mad, or something.. So, I guess if these two idiots end up more than fooling around and Cloud makes Squall sad or hurt, we'll have to get him back with all our might." A lop-sided grin found its way to Sora's lips.

"I guess. He's the closest thing we've ever had for a relative." The blond twin reached to stroke Squall's long strands gently. "I don't want him to get hurt either." He glanced at his brother. "And I don't want you to get hurt either." He whispered quietly. Sora sighed and stood up, climbing over their older friend and to stand before his twin.

"Getting all soft and mushy now, aren't you." Sora reached out his hand to touch Roxas' chin and lifted it up so he could look into the blue eyes that were the mirror image of his. "I won't get hurt as long as you're here. You know I can't live without you.." The look in their eyes spoke about a story of its own and Roxas reached up and trailed one finger over Sora's smiling lips.

"I.." He never managed to end his sentence when they heard Fenrir's roar echoing from the street and into the corridor, startling the twins out of the moment they had frozen into.

"Helloooo, ye boys 'ere sumwhere?" Cid's voice shouted from outside. "Need help with carryin' the dummies up?"

"We're here, inside!" Sora shouted, turning on his heels and walked towards the door where Cid had emerged to. "Squall's way too heavy for us. What did you feed him, seriously?" The brunet twin made a disapproving face. "He weighs like there's two of him under his skin!"

"It's all muscle kid! Summin ye never find in yer thin little body, obviously." On the stairs, Roxas stifled his snicker at Cid's comment and stood up too.

"Oh hush, I look fabulous and you know it too. You just wish you'd still be young and fresh like we are." Sora grinned widely. Roxas just shook his head and sighed dramatically.

"Both of you.. shut up and let's get Squall and that other idiot into the apartment." Cid and Sora both looked like they wanted nothing more than just leave the unconscious duo where they were and ran out to do what ever suited their childish mentality at the moment. The blond twin glared at the two, one eyebrow raised and folded his arms before him. "Well?"

20 minutes later there was a moment of silence as the three men steadied their breaths, Cloud and Squall laying over the couch in the living room, heads resting against each other on the back of the couch. Cid stood up straight, his back letting out that horrible crackling sounds.

"Them should be fine in the mornin'. If Spiky wakes up tell 'im to stay here." Cid winked eye at the twins. "I'll be leavin' that bike of his here so ye might wanna tuck it in the garage or summin for the night." The man snickered at the duo on the sofa. " But did them fight well! Haha, shoulda seen it, you two. Them will get together, sum day. Mark my words."

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

Cloud did eventually stir from the unconscious state of his and found himself laying on a couch that was too small for a man of his height and made his whole body ache like no tomorrow. The blond had a killer headache and a feeling there was something he did not quite remember at the moment. Until there was a voice next to him speaking.

"Cid knocked you out and you are at our place. Squall is in his own room, sleeping. You can sleep there, until your head stops spinning. Oh.. and your bike is in our garage, so don't worry. Also your sword is here." Cloud was almost certain it was one of the twins, speaking. Oh yeah, they had mentioned something about living together with Squall. He didn't even want to open his eyes so he drifted back to unconsciousness.

The garage door closed automatically behind him and Fenrir let out its last purr before Cloud turned the engine off and parked the bike to its place, next to Tifa's car. There had been quite many calls from her, few messages too, when he finally had woken up from the dizzy sleep. He had tried to sneak out but had soon realized he didn't know where his bike was hidden. So he had waited for someone to wake up.

It had been Roxas, luckily, who let him out of his misery and after he had apologized deeply for all the trouble he had been -all this Roxas had shrugged off and just smiled at him- he had quickly mounted the bike and driven out on the streets. The morning was foggy and the blond had strolled slowly down the streets, trying to gather whatever there was left of his dignity. Well, it had been definitely fun, until Cid had done his tricks at them. He wondered how Squall was doing, since he felt a little guilty for getting too absorbed with the fight that he didn't notice they were going a little too far. His head was still sore from the back and his muscles, dear lords, they were more achy than in ages! His musings were interrupted as the door that lead inside the house slammed open.

"Where the HELL have you been?" Tifa yelled, her dark eyes shooting deadly daggers at Cloud who tried to dismiss the painful reaction the loud noises created in his head. "I've been trying to reach you since last night!"

"Got a hit in the head and was out of this world. Spent the night at Squall's." He was mumbling fast, trying to speed the conversation ahead so he could get to the painkillers that were calling for him in the bathroom.

"WHAT?" She was definitely getting even more angry, which Cloud most definitely hated. "And who the DEVIL, is Squall?"

"Tifa, please.. Stop yelling. I'll tell you everything as soon as I get a painkiller first. My head hurts like there is a hammering little monster working at my brains." Tifa eyed him suspiciously. "Fine, it was Cid that whacked me in the head and Squall is the actual name of Leon. Happy now?"

"Wh..What?" She was getting rather repetitive and Cloud stayed quiet, glaring at her. " Fine, fine.. I'll wait, a little while longer." She shuffled for a moment on her feet, looking at the floor and then flashed a softer smile at the other. "Coffee?" Talk about mood changes.. Cloud could only nod, grateful.

After a glass of water, two little pills and a long-story-short-talk with Tifa, Cloud was now seated at the kitchen table, a steaming cup of coffee in his hands and a gaping Tifa on the other side. He felt like a prize idiot, for telling her about everything else, but not about the kiss between him and Squall. It had not been anything special, really. Just an act of pity. Right.

"So.. you're saying that Leon.. agh, Squall, is an old employee of Cid's, not dangerous at all to hang out with and.. is responsible for all those little wounds over your arms and torso? Honey, you got knocked out while being with him. Twice! I don't care if Cid likes him and don't care if you like him or not.. he's definitely not good for you!" Tifa fumed, frowning.

"But he did kind of rescue me. The first time at least. And he didn't do anything on the evening when I went out to see him at the club!" Only kissed him and made his knees weak and heart flutter so madly.. A pink color tried to make an appearance on Cloud's cheeks. "And Cid did whack Squall in the head too, so he's not to blame about that. And I don't, you know... LIKE him."

"Oh sure. Is that why you are blushing?" Tifa grinned at him and winked, her rage winding down as she found more pleasure in teasing her friend. "It's ok sweetie. I know what goes in your pretty little head. It'll come to you, in the end. Which leads me to the subject; Are you going to see him again, hmm?" Cloud tried to hide his face behind his cup.

"Don't know.."

"Well, don't play too hard to get or he won't take the bait. And don't look at me like that! I can see it from you face that you want to meet him again." She was relentlessly teasing the blond and enjoying it too, it was visible to see her joy radiating from her face. He could only frown at her delight.

"..." Cloud stared at the surface of the table, trying to ignore the words. And to ignore the shivers that ran thru him as he thought about the possibility of seeing the brunet. "By the way.. Where were _you _yesterday?" A change of subject, always a good way to escape from your own humiliation!

"Oh.. me? Mm.. I hired a new staff member. Too busy to keep it under control by myself and since you have hands full with the deliveries.. I needed help." Tifa sighed, fiddling with her hair.

"What happened to Jun?"

"He quit because his family is moving to another town." Tifa shot a little nervous glance over the table. Never a good sign to see her nervous. Something was definitely up. "It's Elena."

"..." Cloud was only able to stare at the other.

"Hey, don't look like that! You hang out with Reno. It's not like she's going to knock me out of it anyway."

"Uh huh, yeah. Right. And I'm the Shinra president." He cocked one eyebrow. "I would not be surprised if she actually _would_ knock you out. Tifa, she's so terribly clumsy!"

"But she's changed since the last time you saw her.. which by the way was over two or three years ago already. She's got experience, she's nice and has her way with people. Plus, she doesn't want a big pay." Tifa snorted, tilted her head to to right and looked out of the kitchen window, out onto the streets. "I need someone to help me, that's all."

Cloud nodded at this, still trying to figure what it was that was bothering the girl so much since it was obvious it wasn't the Elena thing. He waited, patiently. His coffee was getting colder, the silent voices from outside filled the room that was soon bathing in the morning sun. He liked these rare, quiet moments with Tifa. She moved on her chair, again sighing deeply.

"You know you'll end up telling me anyway at some point." Tifa jerked her gaze back to Cloud who was offering her a little smile, over his cup he held with two hands before his mouth. The brown eyes were shooting daggers again.

"Nosy bastard.." Then the daggers were gone and her eyes melt into liquid chocolate. "Oh well.. I got asked out."

"Oh.. like for a real date?"

"Yes, dummy. Like for a real date." She didn't sound very convincing though, looking at her cup and biting her lip like it wasn't the truth she has just told.

"So.. Who's the lucky lad? I mean.. I gotta know these things so I know who I have to drive to hospital this time." Tifa's face was fun to watch when it turned from nervous to furiously annoyed and blushing.

"If you are referring to that one little accident last year.." She snared, venom dripping out of every word. "It was an _accident._ It was not my fault he was standing so close to the edge of that bridge."

"Uh huh, indeed. And you just happened to be very pissed off when you called me to pick you and.. uh, your date up." Cloud had hard time not to show his grin that was about to spread over his face. "You know, I still don't know what he did to you." Tifa glared at him in response, obviously not going to share any information. "Fine, fine. Don't reveal your secrets. But who is it this time?"

"No one you know. End of story." She stood up, her cheeks bright red and sniffed. "And you, go and take a shower. You don't exactly smell like a bucket of roses and it's making me lose my appetite!" At this, Cloud burst into laughter and stood up too. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

"_Fucking brilliant battle. I think I have to kick Cid's ass for hitting me in the head. Twins are laughing their asses off because of that. By the way, who won? And more importantly; When's the next time! -Squall"_

Cloud's laughter turned into a wide grin. He looked at Tifa who was looking at him with a weird expression over her pretty face. The blond nearly danced around the table, gave Tifa a small peck on her cheek and danced ahead, towards his room. The girl just stared after him, blinking.

"Men.." She smiled gently. "I'm so going to have to call Yuffie about this."


	8. Episode 8

Episode 8

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

Cloud woke up his neck sore and eyes possibly glued together since they felt so heavy to open. He groaned, yanking his gaze open and regretted it immediately. Aw, fuck! Stupid sunlight. He peeked thru his fingers that were covering his hurting eyes, trying to figure how he had gotten here. The last thing he could remember was the blinking and flashing lights at the bar, loud music that now made his ears ring. His sore neck awakened some recognition in his groggy mind. There was only one couch in this town that made his body ache this badly after a night spent on it.

He was sleeping on the couch at Squall's and the twins' living room.

Why was he here, remained a mystery to him still, as his hang over'ish head was a little too blurry to think straight yet. Running a careful hand thru his spiky hair, he felt a thundering headache to approach his poor brains. Oh god.. He was so badly dehydrated, and that brought back the memories from yesterday. Right.. he had been drinking heavily last night.

They had been celebrating -or mourning as Squall had put it- both of their birthdays, as they were born so close, and if Cloud recalled correctly now, Squall had downed quite fast, quite many beers. And had forced him to join the merry drinking. Why do I let him talk me into everything he suggests.. Cloud flinched as he sat up and rubbed his temples gently, trying to force himself to the kitchen. After a deep breath he stood up, his stomach informing him that he was better off not eating anything before few hours of sleeping more, and slowly made his way towards the heaven called water.

After he had downed almost a liter of the sweet liquid, he felt better and calculated the situation again. If he was here, then the twins were sleeping their own room and Squall in his own. Cloud leaned against the sink, sipping the water from his glass. It was nothing new that he was here these days. After the first match he and Squall had had, they had made some silent, mutual agreement that they were just brilliant together, like they had known each other always and thus had become inseparable.

They weren't together like couples were, but had quickly become good friends. Yeah, really good friends that shared so many of the daily routines that it made other people call them 'the old married couple' and had kind of 'family dinners' with the twins. And he was always sleeping here, he barely made it to his own bed five times in a month -the neck was a living proof of this-. Tifa had complained about Cloud never being around when she was, but the blond knew she was happy that Cloud had found someone who enjoyed his company as much as he did enjoy the others. And she could not accuse him for not doing his job either, since he went there every morning to check out the lists and did what he had to. He just never stayed long enough to catch up with her, or to sleep in his own bed. It was all riding back and forth, but definitely worth it.

So, now that he knew where he was and why, the most logical thing would be to clean up and make coffee. Cloud ventured to the bathroom, took off his shirt -and wanted to throw it into flames as it was rather stinky- and looked into the small mirror above the sink. He looked again and blinked. Blinked twice more. What the hell..! Touching just above his collarbone he grimaced as the place felt tender for the touch. A damned hickey? Who had dared to suck on his skin! Cloud fumed to his reflection few seconds before making an ugly face, taking off the rest of his clothes and stepping into the shower.

The cool water soothed his throbbing head and aching muscles. Seriously, why did he always end up sleeping on that blasted couch? The guys really should get a new one and fast, his precious neck could not endure this torture much more. The obvious fact that he could always sleep in his own bed slid past his thoughts without him even noticing it.

Cloud shamelessly borrowed Squall's toothbrush, he didn't really like the taste of roadkill in his mouth anyway. What was the point of drinking yourself to unconscious state, burn a load of money, you could spent well better, and then next day end up having really upset insides? He did remember now why it was that he never really wanted to drink. Drying himself he eyed his dirty clothes feeling plain disgusted. There was no way in hell he would put them on again. Maybe he could borrow some from the brunet.. Cloud wrapped the towel around his waist, gathered his clothes into a pile, dropping it into the laundry basket and sneaked towards Squall's room, wishing the twins to be sound asleep and not bumping into either of them half-naked.

The door let out a small creak as he opened it slowly and peeked inside. There was the computer table, the laptop still open, whirring softly, the grumbled piles of discarded clothes on the floor, creating a path to the bed where the other man was sleeping soundly, one arm over his head and blanket covering only the half of his obviously quite naked body. Oh dear..

Cloud slid into the room and quietly made his way to Squall's closet where he knew the brunet kept his clothes, all neatly folded, just like they should be. Also, he tried to avoid looking over at the bed, it would just cause him more problems to see the other so very unclothed. He found a pair of boxers and a black t-shirt that was a little too big for him - Squall had wider shoulders, damn it- and dressed himself as quietly as he had padded his way here. He turned to observe his sleeping friend the wet towel in his hand, trying to control his thoughts enough to prevent the evident path towards naughtier areas.

Of course, the attempt was rather futile.

Squall really had an amazing body, it was lean, strong and all the muscles were visible if you bothered to look closely -and that Cloud did now, with a grin on his lips-, and the man emitted an aura of caring, which made him want to crawl into that embrace and to be held close. The skin looked smooth and soft, the arms had fading tanning lines from wearing only a t-shirt last summer. The chest moving with breathing, the flat stomach and below that.. Cloud had to basically slap himself from exploring any further. It wouldn't be a good idea to get a hard on in the presence of the object of his desires, now would it. He sighed and pondered if he should finally make the coffee and prevent making himself an enormous idiot. Though.. He bit his lip as he looked at the comfortable bed and its owner, a feeling of longing sweeping thru his body.

Maybe he could.. Yeah, just for a while. He would get up before the other would stir from his slumber.

Carefully, after he had placed the towel over Squall's chair, Cloud let himself to climb into the bed, next to the man he wanted, but didn't know how to express his feelings and laid down. Squall's body smelled familiar, safe even, it was a mixture of being in the bar last night, the sheets he laid on and that very own fragrance that only Squall had. Wanting to drift back to sleep, soon after he had curled himself as close to the warmth he dared, his head resting on the same level as Squall's chest was, but only on the mattress. He didn't dare to touch the other, that would only lead to trouble.

The brunet moved in his sleep, as if he was aware of Cloud's presence, turned to his side, now facing the spiky hair, raised his arm to wrap it around the blond, pulling their bodies together and mumbled sleepily into the hair that was most likely tickling the brunet's nose.

"You smell nice.." And then he was back in his sleep again, breathing even and steady. Cloud had frozen when Squall had so easily blocked his way of escaping, realizing there was no other option but to rest here -unless he wanted to wake Squall up-, in this sleepy hold and inhale that fragrance that made his mind all fluffy. Finally he melted into the embrace and let the sleep took over him, giving in to his desire to nuzzle his face to the brunet's chest. Probably the best way to get rid of your hangover.

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

Sunlight was tickling his closed eyes very persistently, trying gently to kiss him finally awake, as the day had turned to midday already and yet he was sleeping, despite his disgust for late waking up. Not really paying attention to his surroundings Squall took a deep breath, yawned and wrinkled his nose. He really hated the taste of dead rat in his mouth.

He tried to feel if he had a bad hangover from yesterday -he did remember drinking quite a lot- but there was no end-of-the-world-nausea hitting thru him, yet at least. Trying to stretch his numbing arm under him, he finally realized he wasn't alone in his bed. What the..? The blue eyes flew open and were greeted with a mass of blond spikes and softly snoring Cloud in his embrace. Oh please don't tell me the drinking has made us to do something we'll regret.. He had blank spots when it came to yesterday night and this certainly didn't help at all. Without wanting to wake the blond up Squall tried to steady his breathing and to relax himself, staring thru the hair before his eyes and out of the window, automatically trailing few sleepy fingers on Cloud's back.

Cloud was curled as close as one could, only that Squall was under his blanket and the other was laying on it, which led him into a conclusion that the blond had end up here by some other accident than them having done anything.. sexual. And more importantly, his body did not feel satisfied nor did it ache from certain places.

Cloud had been so damn hammered last night and had been smiling thru the whole night so widely it still made Squall grin. Those blue eyes had gazed at Squall with such intensity at times it made the brunet week from his knees. The blond was a lot of fun when he let go of his restrains and loosened up -particularly the karaoke part had been interesting!-. Only bad thing was that he had absolutely no tolerance for alcohol. It had taken three beers to make Cloud stutter. Three! The brunet chuckled silently, even Sora was better with alcohol than Cloud.

The blond moved in his sleep, his nose rubbing against Squall's chest, lips forming words he could not hear. Suddenly the man twitched violently and one arm found its way to Squall's jaw with an audible slap.

"Ow, what the fuck.. Cloud, are you awake?" He tried to peek down, but there was only that mass of hair preventing him from seeing anything, but nothing else indicated the other to be awake. Steady breathing hit Squall's bare skin. He rolled his eyes and figured Cloud to be a restless sleeper. This was the first time they actually slept in the same bed together. There was some unspoken fear that if they would sleep in the short distance, there might be a chance of something happening between them, something they -or Cloud to be more precise- weren't ready for.

And now the blond was sound asleep in his arms. Nice thinking Cloud! Though the other probably did not know how long and how badly Squall had wanted to wake up like this, how badly it tore him apart for not being able to show his affection completely, only time to time with very small gestures. He wondered if Cloud even knew about his feelings..

But they were good together. Awesome, if you could use a word like that.

They went for training together now -of which Cid had been pleased since now he had more time to play with his machines-, Cloud came to see nearly every gig Squall played, spent time with the twins, who seemed to like the blond as much as Squall did -not to mention how brilliant it was when Cloud cooked for them all, he was a great cook. The apron was one damn hilarious thing also..-, they shared the same taste in movies and music, liked to joke around and basically were damn good friends. And still the blond managed to work on his own too, which Squall appreciated more than anything. He could not wish for anything better. But yet he still did.

Cloud was unreadable, when it came to his feelings towards Squall and it made the brunet rather insane sometimes. He knew his wasted heart was down to the level it was impossible to not to wait for those good news he wished to hear every day when he woke up and saw the other. He had strong feelings towards Cloud and he was helplessly waiting in the sweet torment that was called being in love.

If there would be mornings like this was in the future, he would wait contently until he would be gray and old. Squall sighed, feeling a wave of something warm washing thru him, making him tighten his hold of the man in his embrace and bury his face to the blond hair, only now noticing it was slightly damp and definitely smelled like Squall's shampoo. It was great that Cloud felt comfortable enough around here to do what he wanted, like he actually lived here with them.

It was nice to have another adult in the house, since the twins cared very little about taking care of the chores they were given, instead being the teenagers they were supposed to be. And the blond's coffee was something Squall thought he could most definitely not live without anymore. Mm, coffee.. As nice as this whole laying here was, he still had a dead rat in his mouth, he needed a shower and his brains were screaming for caffeine.

With regret Squall loosened his hold of the man in his arms and carefully slid to sit up, legs touching the cool floor, realizing he had nothing on him. Thank goodness Cloud was sleeping still and were not able to stare at his unclothed body. He stretched his arms up in the air, feeling the blood being able to run to his numb arm again and stood up, wrapping his shirt from yesterday around his waist loosely, just in case, and made his way to his closet, picking up clean underwear and his pajama pants. He certainly had no intention on getting out of the house today.

From the closet, Squall glanced at the sleeping man, that warm feeling making his chest hurt and stomach having butterflies in it as he let his eyes wander over the curled up body, that pretty sleeping face that looked worry free, over the shoulders where a loose t-shirt hung covering the pale skin. He took another look at the shirt and grinned. It would seem that Cloud had raided his closet. His eyes trailed to the narrow hips and Squall cocked his eyebrow. And my boxers too..? Well well, aren't you getting comfortable around me. He closed the closet door quietly, shaking his head, smiling gently and padded out of the room.

When Squall was quietly making his way towards the kitchen when he heard whispered talking and soft laughter that soon was muffled. The brunet knew from the voices it was the twins in there, probably standing over the sink with mugs in their hands and most definitely talking about yesterday night. He leaned to the wall, near the kitchen door and decided to listen a while for the two.

"..saw that mark on his neck? I thought they were going to eat each other." Sora's quieted giggle was something you'd recognize anywhere.

"Yeah, should have fed them more cake before. I had no idea Cloud detests so badly eating cake." Roxas sneered.

"Maybe he's afraid of getting fat and thus won't eat?"

"Yeah right. He's in the danger of getting fat, just like you are. Though you eat more candy anyone else I know."

"Hah, you just like my bony ass having something to soften the blow."

"Well.. true enough. Although, I don't mind it being bony, either.."

"Hmm.. You're such an awful tease."

"Like you'd stop me for real."

"Well, no.. Your fingers are getting dirty, you know." And then there was silence. And that silence made Squall worry a little of what the hell were the boys doing in there. Should he just go in and see or should he warn them before? He decided to risk it all and quickly stepped thru the door and into kitchen.

The twins were indeed standing before the sink, face to face but Roxas was having a spoon in his mouth and dripping chocolate ice cream running down his fingers, Sora looking at him with a jealous look on his face, pouting and when he heard Squall stepping into the room he turned towards the older man and let out a noise that usually was heard from little children.

"Squuuuaaaaaall... Roxas says I'm fat and he's gonna eat all of the ice cream and I wanna have some tooooooooo!" Squall sighed, having had some very disturbing images from the heard conversation and shook his head, giving the boys a glare.

"Roxas, give your brother some of that and stop calling him fat, he's too skinny already. And Sora, stop acting like a 5-year-old." The twins flashed grins at him and Squall felt like wanting to hit his head to the wall. Why could not his mornings be calm and peaceful, like.. ever? "And either of you better give me coffee soon or I'll whip your bottoms Christmas red." He walked to the table, pulling a chair for himself and slumping onto it, burying his head buried to his palms.

"Aren't you a real sunshine.." A sleepy voice called from behind Squall as Cloud appeared to the opening. "But I agree, give him coffee soon or I'll be the one kicking your skinny asses to oblivion. And while you are at it, give me some too." The blond walked over to the older brunet and sat next to him, briefly caressing Squall's bare shoulders while passing him. "You didn't wake me up and I got cold.."

Before Squall could answer anything there was two shocked gasps from the direction of the twins and the brunet groaned as if he was in pain. Cloud, you stupid fuck... should have kept your mouth shut. Now they would have to endure uneasy questions and there would be no escaping from them.

"What! You two slept together?" Sora was clapping his hands together like a little kid, then seeing the blank and embarrassed faces the the older men. "And judging by your clothes, Cloud.. You seem to have misplaced yours. How could have that had happen, hmmm? " The boy was grinning widely, looking at his twin for back-up. Roxas merely nodded.

"Oh fuck that. Sora just shut up.. You got it all wrong." Cloud buried his face to his hands and tried to ignore the cheering boy.

"Indeed. I just woke up with Cloud's skinny ass all nice and tight in my bed. And _I _had nothing to do with that. And where the hell is my coffee!" Squall growled, feeling way too tired for this kind of conversation. The twins were impossible when they had just woken up.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Shut up Squall. Here. Both of you. " Roxas sneered at the men at the table, handing them steaming coffee mugs. "And Cloud.. Nice hickey." Immediately Squall turned his head to the man next to him, his eyes darkening with jealousy. Who had dared to touch his.. no, wait.. not his.. anyway, had dared anyway!

"Shut up Roxas.. I don't even know who did it." Cloud tried to hide behind his mug, face turning red.

"Well.. the culprit is sitting next to you." Now it was the blond's turn to snap his glare over to Squall, who had turned rather white.

"WHAT?" They both growled in unison, not believing it to be true. The twins took their own mugs of coffee and sat on the opposite side of the table, snickering viciously.

"Oh yeah. Should have taken a video of the two of you last night. You were like _so _all over each other." Sora burst into laughter and kept going until he was teary.

"We don't know which one started it, but at some point you two had glued your mouths together and nearly fell from the couch you were suppose just sit and drink. And mourn your getting older." Roxas calmly explained, getting too much pleasure from watching the older men getting more and more pale at first, then starting to turn red.

"I'm sure all the people at the club got nightmares from the way you were nearly ripping your clothes off. So tell me, where exactly I went wrong when I assumed you two had managed -despite your very, _VERY,_ drunken state- to have sex?"

"..." All Squall could do was to shoot murderous glares at the twins, Cloud obviously doing the same also trying to sink under the table. Oh he was never going to drink again that much. Hell no. "Pics, or it never did happen.." He managed to mumble.

"Well... now that you mention it.." Roxas smiled innocently, batting his eyelashes, then a devious, plain cruel smile spread on his lips. He reached for his pocket and fished his phone out, flicking it open. Cloud and Squall both went pale as the young blond shoved them an interesting little picture. Squall closed his eyes and cursed internally. Never should have gotten up. Ever. Next to him, Cloud was paralyzed, one hand clutching the mug, knuckles turning white.

"Now don't get pissed at us, we merely were there to witness this all. Along with the few hundred other people." Obviously Sora had no sensitivity left for his elders and kept on laughing that evil little laugh of his. "But honestly, you were more cute than desperately trying to fuck your clothes on. Ever tried that sober? Well, obviously not, if your faces tell the truth, haha." Roxas was shaking his head, not wanting to participate on his twins word-vomiting.

It was a little too much for the two older men and they stood up nearly at the same time and fled from the kitchen, back into the safety of Squall's room. A roaring laughter followed them.

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

He sat on the edge of Squall's bed, watching the other close the door quietly after him and then just standing there, leaning that naked upper body of his to its wooden surface, eyes closed and breathing deeply.

"I swear to you, I'll strangle that kid one morning." The brunet exhaled frustrated and opened his eyes that were dark with tiredness and something else. Cloud wasn't sure how to read that look and he was too busy not to stare too long at Squall's pale skin. The brunet seriously should dress something else on him, or he would do something that would not end up good. He averted his eyes to the floor and leaned his elbows to his knees.

"Yeah, he could use some ass kicking. Maybe we could bribe Roxas to do it.." Sure, he did love the twins enough to endure their morning-torture, but Sora had been a little harsh today. He was as shocked about the evidence about their behavior from last night as Squall was, but it kind of annoyed him more that he had absolutely no memory of it. Dammit!

"I guess Roxas could make Sora stop drinking.. He is a fucked up twit when he has a hang over. You know, usually people get grumpy and don't want to talk with anyone, but not with this idiot. Oh hell no.. He get's super-hyper and giddy. Even candy makes him less energetic!" Squall was squeezing his coffee mug so tightly it would soon break. Cloud stood up and walked over to the other, touching that hand that was still free. The brunet startled and snapped his gaze from the floor to Cloud's eyes.

"Calm down. It's not like the world has come to an end." The blond offered a small smile, stroking those cold fingers gently. "We could make his life a living hell instead?" There was a little smile forming to the corner of the tight lips. "You know.. put frogs in his bed every morning before he wakes up.. or do something to wires he so loves, so he'll get an electric shock every time he tries to fiddle with them..? Or I could have him work for Tifa.. She'd whip him into better manners in no time." Hah, there it was! A full smile that made that handsome face lighten up.

"You sure know how to cheer me up. The mere idea of torturing that little wanker makes me smile." Squall tilted his head to his left, the brown hair falling in semi-dried locks over his face. The dark gray color in his eyes softened to more blue state as his stare wandered over Cloud's face and to his neck. "I.." The man leaned forward, without quite meaning to, resting their foreheads together.

It took the blond by surprise but he didn't, for once, flinch away. He was suddenly full of Squall's scent, full of his clean essence that filled his mind always in such pleasant way. Their gazes lingered together, without really thinking what they were doing, time slowing around them. Maybe it was because they were tired, a little hang over, because they wanted to breath after what had been said, both of them.

"Just forget about them for a while." Cloud whispered, not wanting to give in to his doubts about how it was not a good thing to stand to so close to the other, not such a brilliant idea to inhale this intoxicating fragrance that made his mind spin. If yesterday was true, they had been like this -and much closer- thru the night. Their fingers entwined loosely and Cloud lifted his chin higher, leaning forward until their lips met. He didn't know what he was doing, not really, but it felt like the right thing to do. Maybe it was to sooth the rage and the shock. Maybe it was because he could no longer resist the alluring feeling the other made him feel. They just rested their mouths, each on the other, not quite sharing a kiss, but almost.

It was Squall who pulled away, the movement was so slow it was hard to tell if the brunet was mad or not for him to do this. Slowly, Cloud opened his eyes, wondering when he had even closed them. The other was peering down at him closely, a silent question visible in his look. The blond gasped, blinked and blushed for embarrassment, his hand which was holding his mug loosening. With a silent thud, the mug fell to the floor and spilled its contents over the plastic surface. Magic of the moment gone with the wind.

"Aw.. crap. I'm sorry!" Cloud took a few steps back and knelt down to pick up the mug. It luckily did not broke. "I need to wipe this with something.."

"I'll get paper.." Squall opened the door again and left quickly. The blond sighed heavily, cursing silently at his own stupidity for doing something like that. Now there would be an awkward tension between them for a while again. Great work dummy! Scolding himself, he stared at the black liquid on the floor, as if it would take the blame instead. No such luck, though.

His heart was thundering, felt like it wanted to choke, paralyze and whither away. Surely Squall was mad at him now! Why did he have to do that in the first place? It brought back the memory of the first so called date they had and that kiss they had shared.. Cloud could still remember the burning sensation when their lips were touching, that warmth that had enveloped him so gently as they had melted together. He could only dream now, right? Only feel this ghost pain for something that would never the repeated in such way again.

What Cloud did not know, dwelling in his own agonizing pain, was that Squall was standing on the other side of the door, one hand covering his mouth so he would not scream out loud, face flushed and more red that ever, his whole body tingling for the touch. He could not think straight, not after that! If Cloud would do that again he might not be able to control himself. He had wanted to lean more in to the touch, to linger closer, to part those delicious lips with his tongue and let the moist flesh meet its pair in the middle and.. Oh fuck. It was not a good idea to get touchy feely with the blond if the results were like this.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_Sorry it took so long to update! I try to be more active since there's much to tell yet about these two. Thank you for reading so far! Much Love to you all~_


	9. Episode 9

Episode 9

* * *

><p>Few weeks later<p>

"Be fast ok? SHIT THE FUCKERS ARE ON ME!" Cloud was furiously whacking the buttons on the game controller he was holding in his two hands. "Die you pieces of shit! Squall, bring me water while you're -oh FUCK DIE!- at iiit!" Squall snickered cruelly as he walked to the kitchen, leaving Cloud in distress with the game they were playing in turns. Twins weren't at home this evening, which allowed the older men to play in the living room, without anyone -like the two annoying pricks..- disturbing their peace. The yelling of the blond was hilarious to listen, since usually Cloud wasn't really all that vocal, but when there was monsters to slay in a game he sure made a noise that was enough to make the neighbors hit the walls.

Despite his good mood, Squall was nervous. The reason why he was nervous, lay on the kitchen table now, in its small form. The man sighed, stared at the little item and wondered if he really should remove it from the box and use something like a plastic bag or anything else instead. Sure, the box was pretty and all, but since he was going to give the damn thing to the shouting and cursing MAN in the other room, it was a little embarrassing for the item to be placed in a velvety box. You know, those little boxes you get from the jewelry stores and give out to someone very special.. Yeah, it most certainly made him nervous.

Shaking his head, not really knowing where else to put the present, he simply stuck the box in the middle of the re-filled bowl of snacks. Now that was enough to ruin the possible romantic mood, yes? Velvet versus cheese snacks, a good way to make things less girly. At least he hoped so. There was no way of knowing what thoughts Cloud would get in his head, at all. Squall decided to just risk it all. Why should he be nervous in the first place? Cloud had given him for his birthday a key chain that looked like the necklace he wore almost always so it was only normal for him to get the other something in return. He should have known back then that Cloud would give him something, but had forgotten the matter completely.

"AWW MAN, the fucker just keeps on appearing! Squuaaaaaaaall~! Please bring that ass of yours back here already!"

Like there was any chance of the situation getting romantic when Cloud was in that mood. Squall grinned widely. His siren was calling and he should answer the call, before the siren would kick his ass. Again.

He filled a glass with water, took the bowl, the small box neatly hidden in the center of the snacks and returned to the living room, where he found the blond making furious impressions, half-sitting and half-standing while trying to get the game forward. Squall looked at the screen, realized where the game was and a devious smile crept upon his lips.

"You're too slow if you can't get past that."

"Shut up and help me!" The blond looked frustrated and was frowning. It was rather adorable to look at a grown man, getting so worked up because of a PS game. Squall placed the snacks and water on the table before the sofa where the other was nearly jumping up and down.

"Seriously, you just need to be damned fast. Kill the fuckers before that and then just aim almost immediately to the ground where that shadow creature will rise from. And then.. just blast away!" Cloud frowned, bit his lower lip and went on trying to do what was told. The brunet sat next to the other, waiting patiently. After a moment of cursing and teeth gritting the blond finally succeeded his task.

"AHAHAH! See, see! I did it!" Cloud was beaming, both arms raised in victory up in the air and the smile he directed at Squall was enough to make the brunets heart stop. "Oh, food." The blond reached for the bowl, handing the controller to Squall, who sat there, stupefied. Cloud dug his fingers straight in the middle of the bowl, probably also getting closer to the hidden item. Squall waited in horror what the reaction would be. "You're not playing.. Oh, hey.. what's this?" The slender fingers had found their unexpected target and were holding the stained box in the air.

"What does it look like..." The brunet turned his eyes to his lap, fiddling the controller nervously. Cloud coughed next to him.

"Well.. I would take this as a proposal, but I guess you're not gonna do that.." Was there a hint of hidden disappointment in the blonds tone? He must have imagined it, definitely.

"Why would I do that..." It was getting a little too embarrassing for him to handle and if the other would not open the frigging box soon he would leap off the couch and flee out of the flat! "Just open the damn thing already."

"Oi, no need to get aggressive. I know you ain't having any crushes at me, heh." Oh, how wrong the blond was! Squall was inwardly screaming that he would have fetched the moon from the sky for the man if he had asked. There was a small snap as the box was opened. Squall turned his eyes back at Cloud, who had let out a surprised gasp. "Wh.. whe.. OH SHIT." Those biggest and bluest eyes were fixing upon the brunet now, making him feel like he would drown. "Where did you find this? Fuck.. And it's not even my birthday anymore." Cloud picked up the small silver earring from the box, placing it tenderly to his palm.

"I know, but I never gave you anything back then so I kind of.. just found this." Squall managed a little smile, instead of a huge grin. "Glad you like it." The blond shot a glare at him.

"Like it? Hell, I _love_ it!" And then the man was much closer, those soft lips pressed against the brunets cheek ever so gently. He could swear that he felt the tip of Cloud's eyelashes tickling the skin too, but maybe that was a little over exaggerated. "Thank you.." That soft voice so near his ear sent little shivers down his spine.

"Mm.. You're welcome." Cloud moved away from him slowly and they sat there for a moment in silence, both sharing matching pink over their cheeks. Of course, they never noticed this. From the corner of his eye, Squall saw Cloud taking off the earring he had been wearing and replacing it with the one he had just received. The gesture was enough proof for him that the present had been a pleasant one for the other.

"Your turn by the way." Cloud smiled widely, breaking the silence that had almost turned uncomfortable.

* * *

><p>Tifa<p>

The afternoon was quiet still as she was sweeping the tables and replacing empty bottles with new ones. Elena had not yet arrived and Cloud was still working out, which left her pretty much alone in the big house. Not that she really did mind being alone, but it would have been nice to see her roommate at least sometimes properly. But she knew Cloud was rather staying over at Squall's place since he had more to do there than just being here and sitting bored in his room. Cloud had always resented at being in the bar when it was open, which, she didn't really wonder. People could be so damn stupid sometimes and Cloud's patience was pretty much non-existing. Tifa picked up the phone after she was done with all the little details she had set out to do and dialed a familiar number.

"_Kisaragi residence!"_ A high chirping voice answered from the other end of the call and made Tifa smile to herself. It was amazing how someone could be so cheery no matter when or where, or what time it was.

"Hey Yuf's. How's it going?"

"_Wahhh, hey Tifa! It's awesome here! We just finished painting Marlene's room with pink and white. It's pretty damn girly and Barret hates it so obviously. I'm happy I don't have to live under the same roof with those two. Hehe."_

"I can imagine." The mere thought of Barret standing in a room that was all girly and probably full of anything that was frilly and sparkly made Tifa grin widely. "You remember what I told you about Cloud last time?"

"_Yeah! That Spiky has made friends with Leon? Sure I do. What a nice, brooding young man he was. The two certainly deserve each other so well. Or wait, have they broken up already, or did Leon finally kick Cloud's ass? And you know, it still rings weird in my ears when you call him Squall."_

"Oh no, nothing like that. They're more like living together now.." She drummed the table with her fingers, idly wondering how weird it was to talk about someone with two different names anyway. " Where does the name Leon come from anyway?"

"_Whaaaaat!" _Yuffie shrieked so loud, it made her to move the phone further from her ear. _"So weird. And cool, kind of! And the name thingy.. I dunno where the idiot figured it out -maybe has something to do with his weird obsession to that Griever thingy around his neck and on his weapon..- but when I met the dude, he used that name. Now that you think of it, how stupid it was anyway! Haha, you know, since his last name is Leonhart it sounds definitely fucked."_

"Yeah, it sure does sound weird, I'm glad he uses his given name now. The nickname did sound odd when I learned about his last name. And the current situation is odd too." She sighed. "You are not going to believe what Squall gave Cloud as a birthday present... You know last summer he lost that earring he has been wearing since.. forever, and was rather pissed off because of it?" The memory of the situation still made Tifa grit her teeth, both in amusement and in pain. Pain because Cloud had been a uncontrollable idiot then.

"_Sure I do! It was the time when he tried to remove the floor just to be sure the earring was not under there? That was hilarious to watch, when you nearly punched him in the face!"_

"Squall gave Cloud a matching replacement for it."

"_..."_ It was rare for the hyperactive girl to be quiet, ever.

"I know.. And I have no idea where he even could dig out that earring, since I thought there was no other pair for it. Pretty sweet, huh?"

"_If I didn't know the man, I'd say that was more than sweet. You know, more like getting a precious present for someone you rrreally like. Wait, does he like our Spiky like that? I mean, I know he likes guys since there was someone back here that he was -I think!- dating."_

"It's starting to look like so."

"_I didn't know Cloud was into guys too. Kinda fits though.. Since he's the pretty boy, haha!" _

"It's my own belief that he has always been more into guys than girls. Just think about it, has he ever gone out with anyone? Even me and him, it wasn't really like that. More like good friends offering support when it was needed. Seriously, I feel like his sister -or mother, if it gets really bad-. The problem is, I think, that Cloud doesn't want to admit he has feelings towards Squall."

"_Well, that ain't no news to me! Spiky ain't the best person to show his feelings to anyone."_

"But you really should see him. It's creepy how he actually lightens up whenever Squall is around. He's even smiling! _Smiling_, Yuffie! Haven't seen him to smile like that after Aer died."

"_Ahahah, really? Wish I could see it! Would be awesome for them to get together. Seriously, they are so alike and would make an excellent couple!" _The girl was giggling on the other end. _"Just remember to send me an invitation to their wedding. I am SO going to laugh my ass off there just because they both have sworn never to get all mushy towards anyone."_

"Oh, I'll be there too, laughing!" Tifa grinned, imagining the situation. "But I had something to ask from you. Do you remember Squall having those two young boys with him when he still lived there? The twins."

"_Mm.."_ Yuffie was quiet for a moment, thinking and browsing thru her memories. _"Ah, the little twits? Of course. Haven't met anyone so close to their twin like ever before. They rarely went anywhere alone, always together. Why?"_

"Just wondering if.." Tifa leaned over the table she was standing next to, wondering if she should even ask what she was about to ask. "You need to keep this in secret."

"_Uu, I like secrets!"_ Tifa smiled, turned her head towards the door where Elena had emerged and waved at the blond girl, before walking into the kitchen to finish the call in privacy. After few minutes, she was done, wishing Yuffie good luck and hung up. She smiled. If this would turn out the way she was suspecting it would, it would be enough from her part to say that she accepted Squall. She returned to the other room, where Elena was turning on the lights and music and smiled widely at the other. A night of work ahead, again.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_Quite short this time, I know. It'll be longer the next time! And the game the guys are playing in the beginning.. I can't remember the name of it but my friend told me he went pretty much like Cloud here when he was playing it :D _


	10. Episode 10

Episode 10

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

He was laying on Squall's bed, flipping thru a magazine about weapons, not really reading it. It was a quiet afternoon. The brunet was sitting before his desk, headphone's half covering his ears, working on his next play list for the upcoming event on next weekend. Cloud stared at the ceiling, wondering how nice it was to be able to see the other working, that serious look over his face and concentration that was so hard to break. Usually Squall had no headphones while he was doing this, but the twins were sick and had finally fallen asleep. And no one wanted two cranky -and definitely bored- boys to be awake more than it was necessary!

Squall had asked him to come over and help him, since he was busy with his other work too and the twins needed someone to dote them in their feverish state. Who else to do it than Cloud? Not that he actually minded that he had been asked to come here to do housework and play a little doting father for the boys. It was nice to feel needed. These days he had not been at home much. Tifa was no where to be seen, not outside work at least, and his days were busy from the sunrise to sundown. Today there had been less pick ups than usually and it had granted him the opportunity to help his friend in need.

Cloud's eyes moved from the dull ceiling to Squall, who sat sideways to the bed. It was nice to watch that profile. If the blond had been any more artistic he would have wanted to draw that proud nose and full lips, that intense stare, that delicate line of the brunets neck, those strong shoulders, but.. he wasn't. Lucky for him, he was able to see the other nearly everyday.

Not wanting to end the nice and cozy feeling but he knew he would have to leave at some point since his first pick up tomorrow was outside the town and he had left his bike at home. The mere idea of going out into the chilling Autumn weather made him wrinkle his nose. He seriously hated to get cold. The warmth of Squall's room was making him drowsy and the soft mattress calling for him to take a little nap. Maybe he could doze off for a while..

Closing his eyes, listening to the soft clicking sounds that came from Squall typing something, he allowed himself to fall into dreamlike state and let his thoughts to wander freely.

It was true that he liked to stay here more than at 7th Heaven. Though, every time he spent the night on that damned couch, his neck was killing him for the next week or so. But every time he slept in his own bed he was only able to feel longing to be back here, to get up early and make breakfast for the three who actually _did_ live in this address. When he was alone in his room he feared the old habits to lift their head again, since lately.. he had been feeling so much better and he certainly didn't want to get back on with those habits. He had been on the verge of starting to flee from trouble and to just blame himself for everything that was going wrong, despite he _knew_ it was not his fault. But he had improved, a lot actually, from being like that anymore.

And it was all thanks to Squall. The other had this stubborn way to say everything out loud, if there was anything bothering him and refused firmly to let a problem go before he had dealt with it. It was an infectious attitude, really.

Sure, it was hard to bounce back and forth his home and Squall's, but all was worth it in the end. He didn't really mind getting up earlier and most definitely did not mind staying here long to the night if he had the chance. Few times he had thought that he was burdening Squall -and the twins- by staying constantly over, but the other had just shrugged it off easily. _'First of all; you're my friend, __so _I _don't mind. And second; the twins get actual meals for once just because you cook. And you clean and do laundry. So I guess you're pretty much covered. Dumbass.'_ Squall had said when Cloud had mentioned about this. The memory made him smile in his semi-sleeping state and he opened his eyes slowly. He gazed at the brunet who was still concentrating on his laptop.

Amazing how easy it had been to convince Squall to let Cloud to experiment with the brown locks. He had done small braids neatly against the scull so that they would end to the delicate neck of the other. It actually looked quite cool. Cloud snickered in silence when he remembered the face Squall had made when he had requested if he could do the tiny braids. First there had been amusement, then dislike and then surrender. And now the brunet looked satisfied with the result since it did really suit him rather well.

"Hey Squall.." A thought entered Cloud's amused pondering. "What are you guys going to do this Christmas?" The brunet snapped back to reality and turned to face the blond, blinking.

"Hm? I dunno.. Probably will be here. Why?"

"Just asking.. Since I don't know what to do myself." Cloud rolled on to his stomach and gathered Squall's pillows under his chin, leaning into the softness. "Tifa said she'd go somewhere so.. I guess I'm asking if I could.. come here.." His speaking had turned into mumbling since he was a little embarrassed to ask such a thing. Squall was shaking his head.

"You don't have to ask since I kind of was expecting you to be around anyway." The man grinned deviously. "Who else would cook the dinner then, huh? Not me, that's for sure!" Cloud lifted his chin enough to stick his tongue out at the other.

"Yeah, great. Nice to know I'm only needed because I know how to make food."

"Well, it's your own fault for being so good at it. You know you can only blame yourself for it, since it was you who offered to cook for the first time. Though, I still don't understand your obsession with those creepy green drinks you make in the morning." Squall smiled widely and turned back to the screen of his computer. He motioned the blond to come closer. "Listen to this." He was handing over the headphones to Cloud who had managed to crawl up from his warm spot.

The song that poured into the blonds ears was softer than he had expected and he cocked one eyebrow at this. Sure, it did sound a little like the stuff they usually were listening, but this had more melody in it, and the vocalist wasn't trying to scream his lungs out.

"Sounds more like Reno's stuff."

"Kind of, yeah. Had forgotten about this band almost completely. It's more old-school than anything."

_/Why are you always hiding? Why are you always mourning?/_

Cloud stared at the back of Squall's braided head, wondering were the lyrics somehow directed at him. He did have a tendency to still be a little... brooding.

"I like it."

"Of course you do." Squall turned his head and Cloud saw a sheepish grin placed on the lips. "I introduce it to you, so obviously must you like it." The blond snorted and slapped the back of the others head, grinning.

"Well... true. But you don't have to act to self-centered about it."

"Nah, you just love me better like this."

"..." Cloud took the headphones off, handing them back the the other and returned to his comfortable spot on the bed. "You really are an idiot." He smiled gently, burying his face to the pillows, hearing the brunet laughing softly at him.

For a while there was silence again. Squall was staring the screen and Cloud laying on his face. When he felt like he was going to choke onto the pillow he rolled to his side and glanced out of the window.

"Holy crap.. Check it out."

"Wha.. Oh. Damn." Squall was looking out of the window too as Cloud was pointing that way.

It was snowing.

It seemed to have started a lot earlier since the streets were all white now, people rushing to get away from the softly landing snowflakes, wrapped in their clothes that suddenly seemed to be too light for the wintery breeze. It started to look peaceful, pretty even, as the town was being covered with the soft mat of snow.

"Good thing I left Fenrir at home."

"Mm." The brunet had turned to face his laptop again and was halfheartedly ignoring the blond.

"I really hate getting all cold and wet."

"Mmhm. I know. "

"I mean, seriously. I fucking despise it.."

"Cloud.." Squall sighed but not bothering to turn his head to look at the other. "Do you want to stay over the night? I can drive you home in the morning if you want to."

"Could I? That would be fantastic!" Cloud nearly beamed like Sora did, whenever he got something he wanted. Squall just shook his head and smiled, it never ceased to amaze him that even after all the times the the blond had stayed over, he still asked a permission to do so. It was kind of cute and weird, at the same time.

"The couch is all yours, you know that." Squall was tapping the desk with his fingers and spun his chair to face the bed. "You know.. I _could_ set you up a check point here, for your work. Then you wouldn't have to go back home just to do that if someone just has entered the orders to the system. Which.. also can be transferred here if you wish." Cloud had a blank expression on his face and didn't say a word. "Could set you up with completely new system to work with..?" Still no words, but there was a thought forming in the blonds mind.

"Uh.. yeeaah." Cloud was hesitant to continue, it already felt like he was asking a little too much, even if it had been Squall who had offered to do all that jazz. "You know I'm not good with computers and shit like that.. And there's a lot of work these days so I'm staying up late to update the order forms and stuff.. and Tifa's not really any help since I see her rarely and she's busy with the bar annd.." Squall raised his hand and cut the blonds stuttering.

"You want me to help?" Cloud blinked and looked at the serious face that was facing him and into the eyes he so liked to look into.

"Um.. yeah. I guess so." That was about as close as he would get to asking for help from anyone. But he was really relieved if the other would do this, since he basically sucked at handling the online orders. "Would be great."

"Ok then. I'll come with you in the morning and go thru the system you are using now and figure how replace it with something that ain't so hard to use. Even for dimwitted blonds like you." Cloud was beaming again from the bed at Squall, not paying any attention to the gentle mocking. Suddenly it was much more cozier to be here. The blond rolled to his back and inhaled deeply. This is what made him feel so comfortable around the other. Squall was so.. brilliant.

"I'll make some supper." He got up suddenly, feeling all warm and mushy inside. Squall merely just nodded, having again turned back to his work. Cloud passed the man by, stopping next to him for a moment and bent over to place a slow kiss on the others cheek. "Thank you." Then he fled quickly, before it would -again- get out of hand and make them feel awkward. Tonight, he wanted nothing to be wrong, it was so peaceful and quiet.

Squall blinked after the blond had left, fingertips pressing against the place where Cloud had touched his cheek, the skin tingling slightly and looked a little stupefied.

"Dummy.." He mumbled, blushing softly and tried to concentrate again.

* * *

><p>Cloud had been up for an hour or so already when Squall finally padded into the kitchen, looking rather sleepy in his bathrobe that hung loose on his shoulders. The man was still very much half-asleep as he slumped on the chair and held his hands high, like he was praying silently for something. The first time Cloud had seen the other doing this he had been more than little confused and had just glared at the man. Now he knew better and actually had expected this to happen. Smiling brightly he handed over a cup of black coffee.<p>

"Good morning." Squall simply took the mug and sniffed the delicious smell, his eyes starting to open more. He mumbled something in response, sipping the liquid carefully, not wanting to burn his mouth. But the blond had been clever enough to let the coffee cool, since he had heard Squall moving upstairs a while ago and thus, the brunet was able to take a proper swig of the heavenly drink. The affect of it was amazing. It never stopped Cloud being surprised to see how after a minute or so, the other was nearly smiling already. There, there it was, that smile creeping upon the lips that were moist from the coffee and drowsy look disappearing as the brains started to wake up properly.

"Mm, your coffee makes me want to purr." Squall leaned against the back of the chair, keeping his eyes on the blond who was standing before the sink, holding a knife on his other hand and on the other, had his precious green drink he just could not live without -how the hell could anyone drink anything made of cabbage, broccoli and cucumber?-. The brunet eyed the knife for a while suspiciously but said nothing.

"Glad you like it." Cloud smiled, emptying the glass to halfway, then placing it next to the cutting board where the tomatoes were waiting for the knife to cut them into pieces. "I'm making a small portion of pasta with sauce for dinner. The twins are not going to be ok without eating and you are busy with your work. And I can't be here until the evening again.." Cloud didn't see Squall lifting his eyebrow and chuckling under his breath.

"Are you sure you are a man and not a woman in disguise?" The amused tone made the blond to turn, with the knife in his hand and the blade of it dripping red tomato juice. The brunet coughed, seeing a potential threat of getting that sharp item possibly thrown close to his head and continued the sentence in his head 'and have become my wife'. "Not that it's not appreciated! But you know, we're all big boys and can make food on our own.."

"Sure you can, but the twins are really sick. The fever has not come down one bit. Plus, your cooking sucks." He had gone to check the boys when he woke up and they had been both curled into a mass of blankets, legs and arms, blond and brown hair, in one bed. And very much still feverish. Cloud frowned. " You should stay home to look after them, I can walk home and still make it." Squall was shaking his head.

"I said I'd drive you home, didn't I. And the twins are sleeping, and probably will be most of the day. You are an angel, making the food ready and we all love you for it." Cloud turned back to his tomato cutting, feeling his cheeks to burn. It felt nice to be able to be useful and he really didn't mind doing this, even though it made him look kind of a housewife or something.

"..." He could have said something, but the warm feeling inside his chest made it impossible for him to utter any words now. He'd end up only saying something very mushy and that wouldn't be very cool. "There's toast if you want unless you want something else.."

"Toast is fine." Squall was moving behind him, the soft padding of his bare feet on the plastic floor and his shadow reflecting the movements to the wall before the blond. He wondered how it had become so easy for them to fall into this routine in the mornings. They would bicker, they would share some compliments, say things that were to be read between the lines and then easily both of them left the house for their obligations; Cloud to do his pick ups and deliveries, Squall to start his shift at the cafe he worked part-time. Sometimes the twins were there too, making them furious with their comments about how they acted like an old married couple.

The thought was impossible though. They just were friends, very close ones yes, but still.. nothing more. He had not one clue of Squall's feelings since the other had not said anything -well, all the little suggestions must have just been Cloud's own imagination!- and thus, it was very much impossible for them to be a couple. Like.. ever.

"Why so sad?" Cloud startled as he felt the object of his thoughts to stand right behind him, the brunets cheek pressing softly against his cheek as the other was leaning over his shoulder to see what he was doing.

"Why do you say that? I'm not sad." He was stirring the pasta that boiled happily in the kettle, concentrating on the task to forget how close they were again. Why was it so hard to be this near? Why was his heart beating so fast, when there was no reason for it?

"Liar." The low voice near Cloud's ear made his knees feel weak. He poked the pasta furiously.

"Trespasser." Squall was so close he could feel the warmth radiating from the open bathrobe and thru Cloud's own shirt. Why does he have to stand there and make me feel so dizzy and.. hot? He was almost sure he would start trembling because his body was certainly acting up so badly, all because of the closeness. He wanted to just stop feeling like a shy child in situations like this! Though, he was pretty sure kid's wouldn't want to take the object of their shyness hard and against the wall..

"Smells nice.." The brunet reached from the side intending to poke the bubbling red sauce on the pan. Cloud slapped the hand off before Squall could manage to reach his destination.

"Oi, don't touch that!" He tried to cover the space before the stove so the other could not make anymore stupid moves towards it and its boiling hot items.

"But Cloud, I wannaaa~" Squall pawed Cloud's back gently, leaning his chin on to the blonds shoulder and faked a sniffle.

"Oh crap, stop that. You sound like Sora now. It's hot, no touching. Gives you a big booboo." It was rather hard not to laugh at the other. If he only could turn his face without colliding with Squall's own he would have done it, just to see how hilariously adorable faces was the brunet making. So very.. out of his cool character. The blond snickered finally, unable to keep his amusement hidden. "Did that coffee turn you into a cat or something?"

"If I ever start mewing, you can slice me with Buster." Cloud could not hold back his laughter as the thought of this ever so cool man making such a cute noise entered his poor brains. He felt Squall's breath on his neck as the other was laughing also, the impact of warm air made small shivers run down his spine. If things only were different, he would have leaned in and rest his head to the others shoulder. But no..

"Heh, don't worry. I'll smack you out of it fast enough. Now shoo, I need to finish these before we have to leave, if you are still insisting on driving me home." Not that he really would be sorry for that, since he had poked his nose out earlier -fine, it was still 5am and supposed to be cold and dark and depressing- and had nearly frozen his nostrils while inhaling deeply that nippy air. He was definitely NOT a winter person. At all. "And a warm car would be more than appreciated."

"Oh, you're no fun." Squall moved away from Cloud, obviously returning to the table and his breakfast. "If I warm the car up, what do I get in return?" The blond turned around, one eyebrow raised.

"You get a kick in the ass for _not_ doing it!"

"Argh, ok ok! I'll warm up the car! Please put down the knife!" Squall escaped from the kitchen with a piece of bread in his mouth and the cup of coffee in his hand, before Cloud would throw the knife he held up high. He smirked after the other had disappeared, pleased with himself for managing the situation without making a fool of himself. Again.


	11. Episode 11

Episode 11

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

It had really been snowing the night before, the whole town was frosted to such a pretty state it made even his heart throb for the beauty of it. Cloud was wrinkling his nose next to him in the car as he was driving them towards the 7th Heaven thru the empty streets. A morning like this would have been perfect to be able to spend going out for a run or a walk, but they had their jobs to do. Plus, he was worried because of the twins. Stupid kids.. had been running out late without properly dressed. Maybe he should call in sick and just go home to be able to do something if the boys would wake up and need something.

Though the idea was nice, he knew he could not afford to stay a day away from work. It was hard enough already to get the rent paid. That was one of the reasons he loved to have Cloud over at their place. The man practically kept them fed no matter what. Squall was not a good cook -had never really been- and the boys were not interested enough to care for such a trivial thing like food.

"It's so pretty.. I know I hate cold and all that, but this is seriously brilliant." Cloud's soft voice woke the brunet from his thoughts. He kept quiet but glanced at the other. "I wish we could be outside the town so we could see the stars too." It was nice how Cloud said 'we' instead of referring only to himself.

"Yeah. Maybe we could go there one morning when the twins get better and we don't have to rush to work." It would be nice, to be able to leave the house for a while. The Autumn had been busy enough to make him feel drained. Without the blond around he would have surely lost his mind into some tempting dark hole.

"I hope so.." Cloud sounded a little sad and it made him turn to look at the other a little bit longer. That was the third time already this morning the blond seemed to be brooding over something. He wanted to help, but whenever he asked, Cloud denied the whole thing or just shrugged it off. He said nothing and drove on, in silence that was not uncomfortable but not cheerful either. Maybe it was just because it was still so early. Though.. they were both morning persons, so maybe that wasn't the reason either. He really should get into this matter more at some point and figure what he could do to help.

They reached their destination in no time, since the streets were nearly empty and the traffic lights were still turned off. Squall parked the car before the bar and turned the ignition off. They sat in the dark car for a moment in silence. Cloud was staring out of window, not moving at all and Squall kept staring at the blond, trying to figure what the hell was wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Cloud.. Don't lie to me. I can see it with my own eyes that you are not yourself."

"I.." Cloud moved his eyes to his hands that lay on his lap. "I.. It's nothing, really." Squall blinked as Cloud turned his head, smile placed on his lips. Only thing bothering the brunet was that the smile didn't really reach those large, beautiful blue eyes. He hated these moments, from the bottom of his heart. He could see that everything was not alright, and yet.. the other kept denying it. But he would not put any pressure on Cloud, the man would only shut down more if he would.

"You know you can talk to me, if there's _anything_ you need to get out of your system."

"Yeah. Don't worry, honestly." The smile was slowly fading, leaving the blonds face flawless, emotionless, like a marble statue. It never ceased to amaze him, how anyone could be so damn pretty. He was hopelessly starting lose himself by just looking at the other. Even in that depressed mood Cloud was terribly tempting. He ached to take the man into his arms and try to sooth all the pain away with soft words and tender caresses. Squall tore his eyes off from the other and opened the car door, stepping outside.

It was nearly pitch black around them, few street lamps gave out their yellow light on the fresh snow that had been plowed from the streets and was now gathered into big piles to the house walls and street corners. The degrees were still below zero so the snow was light and moved with the wind that blew down the street, forcing the feathery whiteness to dance along with it. Squall was glaring at Cloud who happened to stand in the middle of one of those snowy tornadoes passing the blond by. He felt like the time had frozen then. Cloud was so beautiful, his pale face illuminated by the snow and the lamps, eyes half closed as he was staring up to the clouds above, hand buried deep into the pockets of his coat. If there were angels anywhere, there was one standing before Squall right now, on this cold morning street.

He was oblivious of Cloud's movement and before he could react, he had been attacked with an armful of snow. Squall blinked, wiped his face and spat the snow out of his mouth -it had been open, damn it- and saw the blond snickering before him.

"You... you so asked for it!" Squall snarled, grin escaping to his lips and rushed after Cloud who had had enough sense left to try and escape the brunet's counter-attack, all the time laughing that pretty laughter than filled Squall's heart with joy, since it seemed to spring straight from the blonds soul. The street was not enough wide to let Cloud to flee far so he caught the other quickly and tackled him to the ground, straddling the grinning blond. "You definitely asked for this!" He had his fists already full of snow he gathered from the street. He leaned down and washed that pretty face with it, grinning a victorious grin.

"Wahh! Stop iiiit!" Cloud tried to squirm away but didn't really succeed in his vague attempts.

"Oh no I wont! You defied your destiny when you had your moment of madness and tried to mess with the almighty Squall!" Squall's fingers were all over Cloud's face and the neck of the jacket, spreading the quickly melting snow. "You must beg for your release!"

"AAA NOT INSIDE THE COLLAR!" Cloud flinched and squirmed even more as the cold matter sneaked its way under the fabrics and made contact with his much more warm skin.

"Yield!"

"Never!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?"

"..." They both blinked and shot stupefied looks towards the door where was a tall figure of a girl, dressed in bathrobe, dark eyes shooting daggers towards them. "Ahem, hi Tifa." In unison they chimed and then tried to get up from the ground, managing only to tackle each other worse and generally were a giggling mess covered in snow.

"Both of you, inside. NOW!" Tifa was definitely pissed off and that was enough to make the duo on the sidewalk to shut up and try to make an guilty face, not really succeeding in that either. After the girl had turned her back they looked at each other and grinned widely.

"Not settled. I'll kick your ass when there's no one to save you!" Cloud whispered as they got up on their feet, shaking the snow off from their clothes. Squall just raised one eyebrow at this.

"Can't wait."

* * *

><p>"You're telling me, that you were trying to wake up the whole block -6 am in the morning!- just because you thought it would be <em>fun<em>?" Tifa's voice was dripping venom as she glared at the two men before her in the kitchen, now all dried up and finally looking a little guilty. "I seriously never will understand you two.." She was at loss, always, when it came to understanding Squall and Cloud, and their.. what ever it was they were doing.

"Don't bother your pretty head with us." Squall snickered, being glad his hair was still braided and didn't need to be dried anymore than this. "I just came to drop the idiot here home so he could get to work in time. He is the one who started it!"

"So? You looked like you needed the wake-up call! Standing there and doing nothing but staring.. Dude, you looked so funny. What the hell were you even thinking?" Cloud sneered from the other side of the room where he had padded off to get some coffee for himself. The brunet moved his eyes to the table, looking a little embarrassed.

"Nothing."

"I'm pretty sure of that. Your head's so empty anyway."

"Fuck off."

"Here? Gladly."

"Boys..." Tifa's tone got menacing as the two were again falling into some twisted way of talking that she just did not get. At all. And didn't even want to. "Stop it or my head is going to start to ache."

"Sorry.." Cloud apologized and walked from behind the brooding girl, leaning forward and gave a small peck on her cheek. Tifa startled, both of her eyebrows high stared at the blond. "We're bastards and you're just too sweet to be around us at this hour." Squall was following the episode before him intensively, his eyes never leaving the other man. Did Cloud have perhaps feelings for the girl, still? They had talked about the matter few times and he knew it had been more than a little complicated in the past. For what he knew, Cloud had never said that he was swinging only to either side.

"And you're going to be late for work. Shoo!" Tifa wrinkled her nose, but seemed to be less furious after the apology. Cloud smiled gently and disappeared towards the upstairs. Squall couldn't help but to feel a little out of place always when he was left alone with Tifa. He had the nagging feeling that she still did not like him much. She got up and stretched her arms high. Squall didn't deny the fact that she was pretty, attractive and probably any man would go out with her gladly. He just wished it wouldn't be Cloud.. "Coffee, Squall?"

"Ah, sure.." He sighed. There still was no way that he could resent the girl, since she was so nice and sweet.. and scary as hell when she got mad, which happened unfortunately often. "Mm.. Cloud said I could take a look at the operating system you use for the online orders." He took the cup she was offering.

"You will? It's nice to have someone around who actually knows how to use computers. Cid really is no help as he's busy and now even less with Vince being around again.." Tifa grinned deviously and Squall knew well enough why. He had not been around the garage in a week or so, but last time he had been helping Cid the gloomy raven haired man had appeared and had turned the tables upside down.

"Yeah.. I noticed." He had simply fled from the scene as there had been more yelling from Cid's side and even more sulking from Vincent's part. "Strange couple, but I guess love makes it all possible."

"Mmm.." Tifa was eying him over the table and it made the brunet somewhat uneasy. "How are the boys? Cloud said they were sick."

"Pretty sick still. I'll just take a look at your programs and head home before my shift starts, just because I need to check up on them." He didn't know how much he even had left, few hours maybe, before he should be opening the cafe and be sure the twins were safe and sound in their beds. Or bed. Like they actually would sleep apart ever. Should just buy them a bigger bed.

"Must be tough. Being kind of a single parent." Squall said nothing, just chewed on his lips, lost in his own musings. "I'll show you the PC then. Shouldn't take too long." She got up and headed to the second floor, Squall following him. He had been in Cloud's room only once before, and that had happen what seemed like a really long time ago, when in reality it had been only 4-5 months since they first had met on that fateful evening at the Y!-club. But here he was again, looking at the clean room where Cloud spent probably less time than ever. A pinch of guilt made him wrinkle his nose.

"I guess he isn't here much these days." The blond had already managed to leave for his work and the room was dark and empty. Somehow Squall didn't wonder why the other resented at being there. It certainly made him feel depressed just staying there for few minutes. It had no feeling of home.

"You should know." It wasn't a tone that told him to be ashamed that he had nearly abducted the blond man to himself, but there was obviously sorrow in Tifa's voice.

"I.." He started but the girl shook her head, leaning over the computer that was placed on Cloud's desk.

"It's not your fault. I should be thanking you instead. Cloud seems happier now." She turned the screen on and waited the system to start up. "We are drifting apart. One episode of our lives is ending and it seems to send us in different directions." She paused for a moment, chewing on her lip. "I don't mean that our friendship is breaking, it's there still and will always be, we're just standing in crossroads. You know what I mean?"

"Kind of."

"I love him dearly and I want him to have anything he desires. I guess that would be.." The girl never finished her sentence as the computer seemed to have finished its loading. "There. Have fun with it." Squall raised one eyebrow, wondering what she had meant to say but didn't dare to ask. Instead he smiled a little and sat before the desk as Tifa moved out of the way.

"You know, I feel like a kid who has just been handed a toy and told to scram." He heard the girl to chuckle behind him.

"Well, that sort of is your candy, isn't it?" He felt hand touching his braided hair. "And these certainly make you look like little kid." Tifa was tracing one of the little braids with her fingers. "Did Cloud do these?" Squall just nodded and stared at the screen before him. "Thought so. He used to braid my hair too. I guess he likes you enough to be able to touch you like this." Was there jealousy in her voice? Squall said nothing but felt slightly happy for the comment.

"Not sure about the happy part though. He seems to be depressed because of something." Maybe it was alright to voice his worries to the girl, since she most likely knew Cloud better than he did. He had turned on the program and was trying to figure it's purpose. "I don't know who did code this program but he -or she- has done pretty shitty job." It made no sense and was just confusing him more, the more he tried to look at it.

"Would explain why it's so hard to use." Tifa sighed behind him. "Cloud has the tendency to be depressed over many things. You wouldn't believe me how bad it was only few years ago. He's like the ray of sunshine now, compared to what he was back then." Tifa was moving away from him, probably to sit on the bed. "You ask what is wrong and he says nothing is. If you wait, you'd better not hold your breath because it will take a long time. Your best shot would be just to observe him and make your own decisions. Then you can try to ask him straight. And even then there is a chance of him getting pissed off and running away.." It seemed like Cloud had done this kind of things many times before, so drained did the girl sound.

"Thanks.. I'll try that." Tempting as it did sound, he had no desire to think about the matter any further right now and he sighed. "You know.. I could just take this whole thing with me and make a better coding, most likely replace this one completely. Would that be ok?" He turned around on the chair to look at the girl in the darkness of the room. He saw only half of her face, because there was no other source of light to illuminate her features but the light from the corridor. Tifa smiled lightly.

"Of course. I think it would be the best. I really don't have time to take care of it anymore.. I could not ask any more from you but since Cloud hardly ever is here it would be more convenient to have that at your place." She was looking tired, eyelids half closed and her stare was over her hands she had placed on her lap, still holding onto her coffee cup.

"No problem. When the twins get better I can teach them to use the new program. You know, they can update the orders and shit so either you or Cloud don't have to do a thing. Probably a good idea for the idiots to do something useful finally at home too." Tifa lift her eyes to Squall and flashed a radiant smile that made her incredibly pretty and to look much younger than she had few seconds before.

"You really care for them, do you? And they aren't even related to you, are they?"

"Yeah.. I've taken care of them for so long they feel like they were mine for real. But no, we're not related." He turned away again, to shut down the computer and to gather all wires with him.

Not more than 20 minutes later, he was back in car, the computer tightly tucked on the backseat and him feeling a little less worried about his spiky haired friend. Tifa's words had made him feel more determined to figure on his own first what Cloud was hiding, before facing the other. But not now. He drove home thru the streets that were slowly filling up with people rushing to their work and other obligations. Sun was still far from rising, which meant he had enough time to check the twins at home and eat something more than just that one toast.

He parked the car on street, wondering how Cloud managed to take care of them and his work and still look so much at peace. Maybe it was all just a surface, nothing seeping thru the hard shell. Unlike himself. Squall snorted. Yeah, he certainly would start looking worried and drained the minute he felt like so. Though, they had called him emotionless and cold already when he still went to school. He sighed. He just didn't know how to express himself properly when it came to showing some positive affection towards anyone. In that, he and Cloud were definitely the same.

He carried the PC with him up the stairs and into the apartment, trying to keep as little noise he could. It was quiet, which was good since it meant the twins were still sleeping. Probably would be a good idea to wake them up for checking the temperatures. The idea of having to wake those two up was enough for him to shiver in horror. Usually it was never needed since Roxas would wake his brother up, but dear heavens if someone else happened to do that... Squall grimaced internally and placed the computer on the kitchen table.

There were two things he didn't like; one, Sora's nightmares and two, waking Sora up. The kid was a little too over the place no matter how you tried to look at it. When the boy had been smaller he had been easy to handle, but as the boy turned into a young man.. Ugh. Sora had gotten so vicious in that naive way of his. It was lucky for everyone that Roxas usually made the brunet twin much calmer. Squall couldn't do much -when it was about Sora, that is- without the blond boy, that was for sure.

Squall shook off his jacket and shoes and sneaked towards the room where the boys were sleeping. Carefully opening the door he padded inside, waiting for a moment for his eyes to get use to the darkness. He was used to seeing the twins sleeping always in the same bed and it was no different this time either. Roxas' blond hair was more visible than Sora's, who had obviously curled himself next to his brother and was hiding completely under the blanket. It was good that they had each other, in a way. Though it had been more than a little difficult when the boys came to live with him, since there was always double everything in anything.

He leaned against the wall, folding his arms before him and sighed quietly, waiting his courage to raise its head so he could wake the sleeping ones up. He could still remember the last time the twins had been this sick. They had still lived in Twilight Town back then and he had just been living with the boys for half a year or something. He had tucked the boys into their beds, and had gone to the other room that served as his bedroom and living room, to study. It had taken about an hour for the two to wander into his room, holding hands and looking so terribly sick and tired. They had just simply asked to stay there for a while since they were scared. Of course Squall had no heart to say no for such a plea.

He had been sitting in his armchair and the twins had simply crawled on his lap, each leaning their head to Squall's shoulder and then dozing off there, each having a fist tightly gripping his shirt. He remembered that to be the very first time his heart had swollen up from the feeling of protectiveness over the two. It had been hard to breath and he had been on the verge of crying because he was so helpless in front of the boys and their fragile state. He had just put his books away and let the twins sleep there.

If Squall recalled correctly he had been only 19 back then and the twins had been.. what, 13? It had been hard for him to take care of the two when he still had to study at the same time too. He also recalled that he had made a promise to himself not to let the boys down, like they already had been when they had been left by their parents when they had been only small babies. He himself had never known his mother and knew how shitty it was to grow up in a world where there was no adult to turn to. His father had never been one to take care of his children in the first place..

Looking at the nearly all grown up twins made Squall's heart ache just like back then. He was happy that he wasn't alone now, having to worry over these two. Not wanting to disturb the twins' sleep, Squall just quietly left the room, deciding the fever measuring would have to wait. He felt like crying but he knew he wouldn't. He never cried, no matter how he wanted to.

He dug out his phone and typed a message to Cloud, sending it straight before he would hesitate and erase it.

"_I don't know what I would do without you here. Not anymore. Thank you."_

It took only less than a minute for his phone to vibrate softly in his hand. Cloud's reply made Squall smile gently.

"_I wouldn't have it any other way anymore."_


	12. Episode 12

Episode 12

* * *

><p>Sora &amp; Roxas<p>

It had been almost three weeks since they had finally been able to get back to normal life after being tied to bed for a week or so because of the fever -and because certain people refused to let the twins to get up!-. Also, it had taken three weeks for them to figure how to persuade Cloud to go along with them for some quality time. It was no easy task to convince the angry looking man when he had heard about where the twins wanted to go with him.

"But Cloud! You promised you would go with us." Sora had pouted, tried his best to look as cute and adorable as he could. Too bad Cloud had learned to see thru that puppy-eyes-face.

"I said I would drive you there but I never said anything about submitting myself to such torture at any point." The tall blond had made an ugly face and had tried to stare Sora down viciously. But Sora had known better that if pleading wouldn't work, he would have to just try the other measures. Like blackmailing.

"You know.." He had leaned closer to Cloud, lowered his voice to a faked whisper, the kind that anyone could still hear and was obviously meant to make the other more than a little uncomfortable. "I could always tell Squall about the little picture you keep under your pillow when you are staying over the night here..." The words had taken an instant effect and the man had turned bright red and had averted his eyes to the floor. "Thought you might feel like that. So, I take it that you'll come?" He had smiled ever so innocently, which had made the other grimace in pain.

"You are a cruel little piece of shit."

"I know. And I love it!" Cloud had only sighed, defeated and had buried his pretty face behind his hands.

That little conversation had led them to this situation here, where he and Roxas had dragged the unwilling man with them to the huge shopping mall on the other side of the town. Cloud was pissed off but said nothing and that just made the twins snicker viciously. It had been hard, but they seriously had to get the man out of the flat since it had been a direct request from Squall's part.

The mall was already getting into the Christmas mode, even though the actual season was still a month away, and simply, it made Sora feel all giddy and exited. He loved the season more than anything and definitely adored the chance of having the opportunity to give some gifts -more fun it was of course to receive them..- to his friends and particularly to his twin.

Roxas was so easy to aggravate and being his twin, Sora knew all the right things to say and do to get the other to a verge of tears, which.. was rather hard since Rox was anything but the kind of a person to get teary ever. This of course made it all the more fun! Not that he really wanted to make his beloved twin to cry, it was mainly because he just.. you know, _had to_. That was ok and normal for siblings, right? Of course this was for their private time, he didn't want anyone else to know that he could make his brother actually cry.

Sora woke up from his wondering as someone brutally punched him in the back of his head. He found his twin looking at him eyebrows raised and eyes telling him that the other knew Sora was up to something and it would be bad to continue what ever he was thinking about. Sora flashed a wide grin and turned to find the brooding man they had forced with them. Though.. he could not find the blond anywhere. It took a moment of searching to locate the older man but.. in the end it was easy to spot that spiked head. Cloud was standing near one huge pillar that was built to start from the bottom level and went all the way up to the 8th floor of the mall. Sora giggled silently as he watched how unhappy the other was, standing all alone there.

It was amazing how someone could look at the same time like a lost child and a menacing, merciless criminal that would slice you in two seconds if you happened to say something wrong. Roxas took his hand and dragged the brunet boy with him towards Cloud.

"I hope you two know that I'm already ready to start a massacre and also, I do hope you realize it is vital for you to be rather quick with this shopping of yours." Cloud's voice was low, dripping venom and definitely tried to chill the twins to the bone. This just made the boys to grin widely. Of course they knew what pain it was to be here for anyone like the older man was. Seriously, they had gone thru the same kind of situations with Squall more than once, and they were still alive.

"Don't get too exited, we haven't yet even started!" Sora was nearly jumping up and down, completely ignoring the killer-mode Cloud was in. "And I bet you might wanna keep your own eyes open since there is something.. very big destined to come up. For you. " The fuming man glared down at Sora. "Oh, you better believe it.. Quite a big purchase from one certain person. All because you get all achy from sleeping in one certain place.." Roxas slapped his twin at this point to the back of his head.

"Thank you, Mr. I-spoil-all-the-fun. That's enough already." The brunet twin stuck his tongue out at the other. "We go for the clothes first." Roxas pulled his brother with him, Cloud following the twins, menacing, dark clouds hanging over his head, making the people that passed the man by to take few steps to their side, fearing to get a fist to their face or anything else violent.

Few hours later there was nearly steam coming out of Cloud's ears as he dragged himself after the twins, carrying most of their bags and parcels. Roxas had just made a rude comment about Cloud looking like a mix of a huge yellow bird and a mule, which almost made the man throw the bags at the smaller blond and to strangle him. The only thing that was postponing Roxas' early death was a loudly whispered comment from a woman to her friend as they were passing the trio by.

"What a beautiful family! Just look at them, those young boys will definitely grow up to look like their father.."

Cloud had frozen, hands half-lifted in attempt of throwing stuff at Roxas, who was also frozen and stared after the two ladies with a blank expression over his cute face. Sora nearly bent in half for laughing so hard at their faces. It was kind of true though. The blond hair was most likely the reason for people mistaking Cloud being at least Roxas' father. It wasn't the first comment like that during the few hours they had been roaming the mall from shop to shop, but seemed to be the first that had reached Cloud's ears.

"There there, _dad_." Sora snickered and earned a furious glare from the older man. "Don't take it so seriously. It just means me and Roxie look a whole lot younger and you.. well, older?" And then he had to flee from the two blonds to a nearby shop since Roxas hated most to be said to look much younger than he really was, and was with Cloud now trying to get hands around Sora's neck in order to squeeze the living shit out of the boy.

Sora giggled at himself behind the shelves made of glass, watching the two on the other side of the window. The expression over Cloud's face had changed suddenly and Roxas was looking at the man next to him, curiosity creeping upon his face. That made the brunet boy to finally look around him since he had no idea where he had fled to.

The shop wasn't big at all, it had five or six brightly lit shelves that were closed with locks, a counter on the other end and there were a stand where were neatly placed magazines. Sora looked in to the shelf next to him to see what it contained and raised his eyebrows. No wonder Cloud was looking much less agitated so suddenly. The store was full of weaponry and everything linked with that. Sora started to feel a little out of place where he was standing, since he knew absolutely nothing about weapons or where it was ok to use them. Shit, he didn't even know how to cut vegetables properly.

Cloud had entered the store finally, Roxas following him, looking like he was pondering over something. Sora clued himself instantly next to his twin, taking a hold of the others hand and feeling immediately more confident with his brother being so near. Cloud had gone straight to the desk and was talking with the man behind it.

"First time I've seen him actually interested in anything today." Sora yawned and rubbed his nose. His brother remained quiet, observing the older man intensively.

"I think he found finally something he didn't know he was looking for." Roxas muttered, making Sora to look him with one eyebrow high. "Well, look at him. There might be some surprises ahead if I'm guessing things right. You know he loves nothing better than making our grumpy roommate happy." Sora grinned widely.

"Oh yeah, I know all about that. Have you seen the picture he keeps -well, kept.. until I kinda blackmailed him to take us here because of it- under his pillow?" Roxas nodded, there was very little, if nothing, he didn't know when it came to know stuff that happened inside the flat they lived. "I kinda had to say AWW out loud when I found it the first time." The brunet boy snickered.

"Mm. All you need here is one hour more of torture and then we could.. perhaps grant him some good stuff?" Roxas' face formed an affectionate expression for a split of a second before turning back to blank.

"I should go aww at you sometimes. " Sora nudged his twins' side with his elbow and caused the blond to shoot an annoyed glare back at the other. "You're one big softie. But I love you anyway." Sora sent an air kiss to Roxas who simply ignored the gesture. "But is it already that much so we can take Cloud there?"

"About hour or so and we are free to go. I still want to check the music store." Sora was nodding, them both now staring at Cloud at the desk, looking like he was about to explode for some unknown reason and was waving his hands frustrated in the air. The man Cloud was talking with was looking a little amused and said something which made the blond man to stop his silly looking waving. The twins weren't able to see what happened next since Cloud had turned his face away. After a moment the man was walking towards the boys, with a small smile placed on his lips.

"No. I won't tell you a thing. Don't even think about asking." Cloud spat out when Sora was about to open his mouth. "So, you are going to torture me some more, aren't you? Let's get on with it then." With that said, he had walked out of the store, bags and packages in his hands, with a determined look over his pretty face.

"Uuu.. Maybe we should take a little longer way before letting him rest." The twins grinned in unison, following the older man.

* * *

><p>After dragging Cloud around the huge shopping center, packing the car with their purchases the boys insisted on that they should still visit one specific place a bit further, which made the blond man to frown and look even more furious and was about to open to car door.<p>

"No no, we can leave the car here and walk there." Roxas smiled innocently to what Cloud only snorted at and eyed the boys suspiciously. They walked thru the crowded streets few blocks before reaching their destination. Roxas couldn't help but to notice the looks they got from the people who passed them by. Mostly women were glaring first at Cloud and then the twins. He was pretty sure he heard more than once a longing sigh. It was weird for anyone to be sighing over something like the three of them were, it wasn't logical, there were many people who were as attractive as any of them were! Cloud's face was getting more and more angrier the further they moved.

"This is exactly why I don't like walking outside when there's other people." The man growled, stubbornly staring at the asphalt instead of shooting death-looks at people. "And with the two of you with me now, makes it three times worse." Roxas only nodded. He had started to understand why the other resented so badly being dragged around when he had witnessed more than one woman -and man- approaching Cloud in hopes of... gods only know what! And all of them were not -so-politely rejected, of course. And more than once had some older person appeared from nowhere to tell them what a beautiful family they made. Though.. Roxas had to admit it was a bit confusing for him and Cloud having rather similar hair, and all of them blue eyed too.

Sora jumped ahead of the two and was now playing gentleman with opening the door and mockingly bowing his head as they stepped in. The smell of fresh coffee and just baked sweet things filled their noses immediately. Roxas kept his eyes on Cloud who looked a little confused but soon melt into a soft smile as the blue eyes found the man behind the counter at the right side of the coffeehouse they now were in.

It was amusing to see how the annoyance disappeared so swiftly as there was one certain brunet in sight. Cloud was basically eating the slim figure of Squall's with his eyes, a hint of pink rising to the pale cheeks. Roxas could not understand how the man was unable to admit himself he was very obviously having warm feelings towards the other.

"He knows what we want. We'll find a table in the meantime." The blond twin pushed Cloud in the back, urging him to move forward to counter where Squall was, who had not noticed yet the three of them to enter. Cloud mumbled something incoherent in response and went ahead.

"They're so cute it makes me vomit soon." Sora whispered to Roxas' ear as they watched the scene before them. Squall had finally noticed Cloud and had gone from strict work-face to much more warmer and relaxed face and was obviously welcoming the other with a wide smile, to witch the blond man was answering with a smile as wide. "I don't get it. Are they honestly so blind they can't figure how much they want to be together?" Sora was half talking to himself, half to his brother as they were settling down to a table near the window. There was perfect view to to counter so they were able to observe their friends flirting unconsciously to each other.

"Obviously they are. Stupid gits." Roxas took off his coat and looked at the table next to theirs. There were two girls sitting there, both having their eyes glued to the direction of the counter. The blond boy tilted his head towards the girls direction, asking Sora to pay attention to that way for a moment.

"Oh my.. Now there's two hot guys there!" The girl with light brown hair sighed, her friend nodding. "You know I come here mostly because that man is just too gorgeous to look at but today we certainly get a double treat!"

"I so know what you're talking about.. Just imagine how cool it would be to out with guys like that."

"But you know.. I've never seen that man to smile like that before. He must know the other well."

"Really?" The blond haired girl puckered her lips and batted her eyelashes -obviously extensions, no one had that long lashes in reality!-, leaning to her palm. "It would be awesome to have someone like either of them to smile at me like that.." She sighed deeply. Roxas stifled an evil snicker. Like either Squall or Cloud actually would be able to smile at anyone else so warmly, except to each other.

"Tell me about it.." The brown haired girl sighed too, biting her lower lip. "But you know what that really looks like? Like they were.. you know, having something going on there."

"Oh.. You know, I think you're right! Aw maaann~ Why is it that all the gorgeous ones are either taken or gay!" In front of Roxas, Sora was hiding his face to his hands, shoulders trembling from silenced laughter. The blond twin had to stare the table surface very intensively to prevent himself from bursting into loud laughter too. It amused him to the end that even complete strangers were able to see there was more than just little sparks flying in the air between Squall and Cloud and yet, the two idiots refused to see those signs themselves! Well, they were fun to watch, if nothing. And even more fun to tease.

The girls kept chatting about gays being too gorgeous and how super awesome it would be to go out for a shopping spree with one -to this Roxas silently argued of how wrong the girls were, it was much closer at being in kindergarten than fun and happy!- and went silent only after Cloud was approaching their table. And of course the man chose to sit next to Roxas. Obviously, since you could see Squall from there.

"He'll bring the stuff here in a while." Cloud managed to mumble, his eyes still locked towards the man working. The green and white striped apron Squall was wearing probably didn't help at all. It was no wonder people kept drooling after the brunet man, he did look rather alluring in that cute apron and still managed to seem cool, like he had born to wear anything on him and never lose his style. Talk about being a born sex object. Roxas grinned.

Cloud looked like he was lost in his thoughts and kept silent. Sora made weird faces before his twin and the said twin tried to ignore all his brother was doing. Sometimes he wished Sora would just grow up, but in the end.. all he could do was to love his idiotic other half, no matter what the twit did. Cloud twitched suddenly and blinked.

"I need to get a night job." The twins had moved their eyes to the other because of the sudden movement, but the words clearly confused them even more.

"Wh..where did that come from?"

"I just need it. Or one for weekends. I don't care really, I just really need it."

"Well.. I think they are recruiting new staff at Salvation since one of the bartenders quit last week." Sora raised one eyebrow at Cloud curiously. "You have experience in that, don't you? Since I can like.. call to the owner right now and tell him that you'd be willing to try it."

"Of course I know. Who do you think has covered Tifa up at 7th Heaven when she was sick." Cloud glared at the brunet boy. "Do please make that call." Sora merely shrugged and dug up his phone and stood up to be able to talk in peace. Roxas eyed the man next to him, trying to get thru his thoughts just to know why the sudden urge to make more money. Maybe..

Squall decided that precise moment to appear with a tray in his hands and three cups placed upon it. He slumped on the chair where Sora had been sitting and raised one eyebrow at the two blonds. The table next to theirs had gone completely silent.

"Where did Sora go? And why you both look so weird?" Cloud remained quiet and stared the table this time, trying not to ogle at the brunet man. Before Roxas could answer Sora returned and sat next to Squall.

"You'll have to get there tonight for an interview." Sora reached towards the tray where the cups still stood untouched and took the biggest one with a huge pile of whipped cream on top. "Mmm... cocoa." Next to the smiling boy, Squall was trying to reach Cloud's eyes.

"Interview? What did I miss, seriously?" Cloud's cheeks were gathering red over them and the man still refused to look up.

"He's gonna get to Salvation tonight for a job interview. Actually, you're working tonight too, aren't you?" Sora smiled widely, wiping cream from the corner of his mouth. "You know, take Cloud there to meet the Big Man."

"You serious? Cloud.. why the hell do you need a another job for? You've got your hands full already with your own business!" Squall sounded almost angry, which was something new, usually the man never expressed his emotions this openly in public.

"So what if I take another job? It's not like you're any better." Cloud had finally managed to lift his eyes to meet the gray-blue ones and glared at the other man stubbornly. "You work in two places at the same time too, why shouldn't I. And since you're not my partner, nor my mother, I see no reason for you to get upset." Oops, that was almost mean! Roxas thought to himself, hiding behind his teacup. Squall took a deep breath, closing his eyes, probably counting from one to ten.

"Fine." An uncomfortable silence fell upon the table and the twins looked at each other, thinking the same; Cloud was hiding something and it killed Squall badly. Interesting! This was the first time they actually witnessed the two to argue for real about something. "I'll take you there."

"I know where the place is and am fully capable of getting myself there on my own, thank you very much."

"Whoa, guys. Calm down!" Sora cut the conversation before it got too ugly. The men were already glaring at each other with rather cold eyes. This certainly was unexpected thing to happen. "You two sound like you'd been married for ages." This comment made Cloud and Squall to avert their eyes away from each and to stare the table silently.

"That, or simply lover's quarreling." Roxas couldn't help but to add. But it was true. The other two remained silent but a hint of red had made its way to both of their cheeks.

"Excuse me.." Squall suddenly stood up and disappeared from the table, leaving the twins baffled and Cloud, well.. quiet and embarrassed. The twins looked at man for a moment and blinked when he also stood up and excused himself, fleeing after Squall quickly. Sora gaped after the duo for a moment before he burst into laughter.

"Yeah, definitely nothing to worry about! They're probably apologizing at this very moment somewhere there. Idiots.. Why the fuck did Squall have to get to pissed off because Cloud wants to work more? I don't get it." Sora shook his head, lifting the cup to his lips.

"He's worried." Roxas wrinkled his nose, stirring the tea with the spoon. "He hasn't said anything but I'm willing to bet my money on that he's worried of Cloud's well-being." Sora stared at his brother curiously. "You've noticed it too. That there is something off, with Cloud sometimes." The brunet twin nodded, after a while.

"Yeah. But I suppose they can deal with it together. You know, they kinda work so well its not necessary for either of us to stick our noses into their things. If Squall wants to do something then he will, doesn't matter if Cloud likes it or not." Grinning, Sora wiped the melted cream to his finger and stuck the finger into his mouth. Roxas glared at him.

"You sure are deceivingly stupid sometimes, but end up being more observant than you let anyone know. I seriously love you for that." The brunet smiled lightly, trailing the wet fingertip over his lips.

"Yeah, I know you do."


	13. Episode 13

Episode 13

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

After he had gotten off from work -that had been torture since he kept thinking about Cloud all the time- he had just walked home as fast as he could, only to find the twins gone and Cloud not being there either. Squall sighed, tossing his jacket to the chair in kitchen and ran his fingers thru his hair, not sure what to do with himself right now.

When Sora had announced that Cloud was getting into an interview at the club something just snapped in Squall's head. It wasn't like he had really wanted to get so angry, but.. there was something more important at stake at that moment than just his appearance in public. The important thing being Cloud's well-being, of course. Ever since that talk he had had with Tifa, he had been trying to observe the blonds moods and had come to a conclusion that the man was bordering his limits.

And now he wants to work more? Sheesh.. what an idiot! It wouldn't make the situation better at all. Well, that was Squall's fear, anyway. It was different with him, since he really had no other choice but to work his ass off. The bills didn't pay themselves, the rent either. And he was so used to this overloading of himself that it didn't drain him as much as might have done to someone else.

As Cloud had moved the computer he used for his company here, Squall had reprogrammed it so it was easier to handle now and Sora had taken the responsibility of getting the daily updates to him, which was helping the blond to handle all the rest. It made no sense to him, really. There had to be some secret reason Cloud was forcing himself to do more, to push him slowly and surely over the edge sanity.

But he knew better than to go and try to stop the other if he had already gone and set his mind on something. Stubborn prick.. A sheepish smile reached Squall's lips. It was the same with him too, he never was willing to admit he was on his limits and should back down a bit. All he really could do was to be there if Cloud would need him -would he ask it or not, he would be there!-. At the moment he was just worried and felt helpless, the anger had fade away as soon as Cloud had ran after him at the cafe and apologized so.. bluntly said, it had been almost cute. The mere memory made him smile gently.

"_Squall, wait! I.. I'm.. I didn't mean to say that. Of course you're my partner.. No! I mean, not like THAT, but.. my.. YOU KNOW! You just shouldn't get so worked up because of me.. Argh, I don't know what I'm saying! Just that.. I'm sorry. It was totally unnecessary from me. Please forgive me."_

Though.. it really should have been him, who should have apologized the blond, which he had done of course, after he had gathered himself inside back together. But he should have done it first!

Squall was wandering around the quiet flat, still unable to concentrate on anything. He wasn't even sure would Cloud come with him to the club in the evening or would they go separate ways. Shit.. the thoughts inside his head were killing him slowly but surely. Something he hated most was to have your head too full of shit and then his usually good concentration level dropped below zero. Maybe he should go to work out some. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Yeah, he still had enough time.

Without really thinking he found himself typing a message and after he had sent it on its way he realized he had just asked Cloud to come to the gym they used in wintertime. Now what exactly was the clever part in that, really? Argh..

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

"_You up for some work out before evening? If so, meet me at the gym in 20mins."_

Cloud tossed the phone on his bed and sighed. What was the other thinking, asking him to work out right after they had almost gotten into a fight just few hours before. Though, on the other hand it was almost logical, since physical exercise made them both lose tension from their minds and bodies. Maybe it would be a good idea, since he was a bit nervous about the interview and.. well, nervous because he was so confused too.

When he had realized that the twins had actually dragged him to Squall's work place earlier he had nearly frozen completely. All of his sensible thoughts had flown away as he had seen the brunet in his apron and white t-shirt. He was not really a fan of sweet things but he had to admit the other had looked much yummier than any of the buns or muffins' and cakes on the counter. Had of course been enough for his brains to shut down completely.

There was very little he could do to himself, as he kept on denying that he was not just drawn physically to Squall. Well, it had been obvious since the first time they had met but now it was getting even worse since he tried to dismiss the whole chemistry between them. Not to mention his mental state when it came to wanting to be with the brunet. Also, it was nearly like living in hell sometimes when the object of his desire seemed to be completely cool with them being just best buddies of the century. Bummed him out like, so much!

Though.. Cloud bit his lip and tapped the window glass he was leaning against and watching down to the street, without really seeing anything that went on there. Would it be too much from him to hope that all the kindness Squall was directing at him could actually have something more underneath? The mere idea made his heart throb faster and his whole body felt hot. Could it really be so? Had he been completely blind, all this time, or was the other just very bad at shoving his true emotions? Well.. that was nothing new since he had heard more than once from Tifa -and various other people- that he, the almighty Cloud, was bad at expressing his emotions too.

Cloud stared blankly out, chewing on his lips and frowned. It would be absolutely embarrassing to notice that you'd have gone thru a whole lot of mood swings and taken the bad mood on others just because you'd been so dimwitted, such a fool and an idiot to see there actually _were_ things that could be understood as good signs! Oh.. crap.

He suddenly punched the wall with his fist and gritted his teeth. Damn it! He should just get a grip and open his eyes and actually try to see the situation more objectively. Yes, definitely. That would be the best thing to do. Which would also mean that he should start right now and go to the gym. Nothing better to get your mind of unpleasant thoughts than good old work out with a person who knows how to push your limits. Physically. Yeah. Hmm.. a sweaty Squall with t-shirt glued to that perfectly muscled body. Oh fuck.. He was pretty sure he should hide an instant cooler down in his pants if his mind was going to keep up this way of thinking.

Glancing at the clock Cloud cursed silently. He was seriously going to be late if he didn't leave right now and his stuff was still unpacked. He rushed to gather all the necessary clothes and threw them into the bag before running downstairs to dress up.

Cloud sighed and stole a glance at Squall who was driving the car towards the club they both were supposed to be in 30minutes time. So, it had not been enough for him to make an ass out of himself at the cafe in front of the twins, but he had also had to make even bigger ass out of himself by forgetting his pants at home, the ones he used when they were exercising. He had noticed this only at the lockers where they were supposed to change clothes. Squall had grinned deviously and had mocked him being an airhead or something. Embarrassing enough, that one, but didn't even compare to the shame he felt when he had had to borrow the brunet's pants. He could still hear the laughter of the other in his ears, since the pants were slightly too big for him and were in danger of dropping all the time.

"_I never imagined that anyone could actually look adorable in those particular pants, but you do."_ Squall had commented and then had patted his head, ignoring the deep red over the blonds face. In the end the work out had been brilliant and had cleaned up his mind very efficiently, so now he was calm and definitely ready for making the club owner sure that he was the one they needed to work there!

The brunet had not said really anything about the upcoming interview, not after they had argued shortly about it at the cafe. Cloud wondered why had Squall really even been so upset in the first place about it. He did have his reasons for wanting to work his ass off, but he had no intention of telling anyone why he wanted to do so. It would just spoil all the fun in the end!

Squall parked the car a block away from the club and for a moment was leaning to the steering wheel, an exhausted expression sweeping over the handsome features. But it was gone before Cloud could say anything and the other had stood up and out of the car already.

"Come on slowpoke, you wont get any closer just staring at me." Squall smiled faintly and closed the door. The blond sighed, trying to focus a bit more at the upcoming interview and not trying to constantly figure if there was something hidden between the brunets sentences. Just keep it cool, just keep it cool.. like, normal. Ah crap, that would never work! Cloud wrinkled his nose and got out of the car, with and unpleasant look on his face. The other caught him looking like that and raised one fine eyebrow.

"Nothing. Just a bit nervous." He managed to mumble, directing his eyes to stare down at the sidewalk. Squall made a small noise that meant pretty nothing and remained quiet. Okay, fine.. If the other wanted to act like that then he was going to say nothing either. Funny, that Squall was like this now that he had been completely normal at the gym. Cloud was confused even more and it certainly made him irritated.

They walked down the street in silence that was far from being comfortable, like it usually was. Though, the brunet seemed more in peace than Cloud was. Pissed him off even more. No, I can't be angry now! I have to be calm and..

"The office is to the right from the backroom." Cloud's frantic thoughts were interrupted as the other decided to actually say something. The blond blinked. Oh that's right, he had never been there even though he had been in the backroom more than once.

"What's the owner like anyway?" He had never seen this person and was both curious and deeply disturbed to even think what kind of a person wanted to own a club that held even fetish-events. Squall frowned and then smiled deviously.

"You'll see."

* * *

><p>He sighed deeply, wanting to end this evening early and fall asleep in hopes of awakening in the morning and everything having fallen back to their rightful places. Like Squall wanting to actually talk normally with him and himself having his thoughts sorted out to at least some kind of order. Cloud closed his eyes for a moment and just stood there, before the door he should knock. The winter was going to be hell, that he knew for sure. He regretted already all the foul words he was going to say and even more worse moods he was probably going to have. And if Squall was going to act like an arse towards his work-my-ass-off-phase, then all the shit would be pretty much doubled. Since, the brunet was the haven he needed to have his sanity secured.<p>

Well, he just should deal with it then. Not a chance that he would give up now! He knocked the door firmly twice.

"Come in." Cloud entered the room and blinked. He frowned and blinked again.

"..." He was pretty much speechless at the moment. There was two very similar, very devious smiles directed at him as he stood at there stupefied and just glared at the two men inside the spacious office, decorated in red so generously Cloud felt like he had walked into a fireplace.

"Close the door, and your mouth, be so kind." The man behind the table grinned, folding his arms before him, the piercing green eyes following the blond intensively as he moved to close the door and towards the table where the third man was settled on a cozy looking armchair.

"Wassup Spiky?" Reno grinned even more widely, if it was possible. "What brings you to greet me and my dear brother this evening?"

"Brother?" He didn't even know Reno had a brother. Well, okay.. so they had not been the closest buddies ever, but still this information was something the blond should have known. It was easy to see the relativity factor to be true. Both had flaming red hair, green eyes and.. was there tattoos on the other man's face too?

"Yeah, Axel here is my precious younger brother. But do not let his angry face startle you. This fella here is cuddly as a little kitten. Well.. bites definitely but still, cute and cuddly."

"Yeah, got the name memorized?" Two sets of brightly glimmering eyes set on Cloud who was only able to nod. "Well, good!" Axel stood up and the blond noted that the man was definitely very tall and very.. slim. And very handsome. Kind of like Reno, though Axel managed to look a little more menacing than the other redhead.. "The job is yours then!" Wait… what?

"You.. don't want to know if I actually know how to handle that job?" Cloud couldn't really believe his ears. Axel looked a little baffled.

"Uh, no. Not really. Sora called me and told about everything there is to know -like, what your little perversions are too.. you kinky pretty boy- and Reno just confirmed it all. Also, I happen to know that you have worked with Tifa. But.. " The man sure could look menacing when he was glaring straight at him like that, the little tattoos under his eyes making it even worse.. "Can you?"

"Yes."

"Good! You're hired then!" Unlike Reno, who usually just jumped around and made a fuss and mess about things, Axel seemed to have the habit of merely being rather cool. The very opposite of his brother, who seemed more the younger one, based on his acting. "We need mostly help during the weekend's so if that goes fine with you, then it's settled and I'll print out the contract form at some point, but for now.. You should go to the boys and tell them show you around, though you already know pretty much everything around here, don't you.." Cloud felt a little embarrassed at this, but it was true since he had spent almost all his weekends here whenever Squall had been working. Would have been odd if the owner of the club didn't know what was going on there. Axel had sat down again and was looking much more efficient than his big brother had ever did.

"Right.. ok. Thank you. I guess.." He was still in shock, not really yet having completely understood what just had happen, but.. everything was good, he got the job and now, he was going to kill Squall since the other must have known this all along! Not to mention what he would do that smaller brunet when he would get the brat in his hands.

"Don't get eaten!" Reno yelled after him. "And please don't make a massacre out there unless you mean to clean it up yourself!" Cloud drew the conclusion from this that there had been more than one person in this little scheme. Not looking behind him -where the two redheads were laughing in unison, hard- the blond fumed as he nearly stormed out of the room. The door closed behind him with an angry click, but the only thing he saw at the moment was Squall, grinning widely and staring at him straight into eyes with a victorious glimpse.

"You..! You knew!" Cloud managed to snarl. "Why?" There was a slightly smug look over the brunet's face as he was glaring at him. Had he done something so bad he seriously deserved all this cunning behind his back? It did feel like someone had struck a knife thru his lungs. He really hated being deceived.

"Of course I knew." The taller man slowly melt into gentle smile. "Oh come on.. Don't be so mad. I just had to participate in this since you went on your own to decide to get another job.." Cloud felt his rage fading, feeling more confused -like he wasn't already enough- about his friend's behavior.

"Uh.. I'm sorry I didn't say anything, but really.. we're not like married or live together or anything, thus it shouldn't be a problem to you that I don't tell you everything." Shuffling on his feet, uncertain of what to say to still keep his secret and yet try to make the most important person in his life to stop being angry at him.

"We might as well be.." Squall grinned slightly. "And you practically do live with us and _usually_ tell me pretty much everything so.. ahah, maybe we are unconsciously married already." Now that didn't really sound that much of a joke, now did it? Cloud wondered if there could be a hidden meaning, trying to see thru the defenses Squall hid himself behind, even with him when the other was joking around. It had been like that always, around certain subjects.

"Yeah, right. Haha, funny." Like it really could be true that Squall would want to be with a guy like he was. Skittish, rude, gloomy.. Who would want a partner like that? Seriously, not possible. So even if there ever had been anything warm coming from the brunet's direction, it surely had vanished as the other got to know him more and more. Anyone could get bored with him, that was obvious.

The conversation ended there when Squall reached up to pat the blond's head and smiled a genuine smile, wiping all the remaining anger completely out of Cloud's mind. But as they walked back to the club-area, there was a small unspoken nervousness lingering between them, about the relationship they shared and how they had never said anything out loud about their feelings.

It was only few after Cloud had been employed to the club when the said blond man was idly flipping thru today's newspaper in the kitchen. Idly because certain brunet was doing dishes and Cloud of course had the perfect view to the others back and.. Once again he yanked his eyes higher and tried to stare the printed words instead, failing as usual.

He leaned to his other arm that was resting on the table, sighed silently and thought how damn grateful he was when he was able to have such a wonderful person as his friend. How boring his life would be without Squall. How miserable more likely.. It wasn't really that long ago when he had been bordering the depression again.

Cloud's eyes rested on the strong figure. He felt calm whenever the other was near and enjoyed it now wholeheartedly. Had this happened a year ago it would have made him just uncomfortable. Squall had that amazing impact on him that made him just want to be a better person.

But was it all just friendship?

There were moments when they could fall into such behavior that was common only between lovers. There were times when they joked about the matter themselves. And always after those moments and jokes, there was a long silence that spoke hidden meanings in every said word. It was more than enough to make Cloud ponder things a bit more seriously.

Not that long ago he had admitted to himself that he was in fact, infatuated with the other man. And now, as he was this thoughtful, he was ready to admit his little infatuation was more than just that. Maybe he was falling in.. Yeah, that big word. That big L. He shifted on the chair and bit his lip as if he was almost scared because of the thought of being in an unknown situation. He had never been in love with anyone. Not really. Not like.. this.

Cloud frowned. Why was it what he was so scared of falling in love with anyone? Or was it just with Squall? If so, then it might have something to do with the not knowing if the other just considered him to be a really good and close friend or did the man actually have some other feelings towards him.

He sighed. It was always like this. He tried to rationalize the whole matter and ended in this same vicious cycle of unanswered questions. Of course there was always the option of actually asking the other what the hell was going on, but that was something Cloud wasn't ready to go for. Not yet. He enjoyed this situation too much to risk it all. Sometimes it was easier to give up and stand back and maybe wait and hope for the impossible to happen.

Squall turned to look at the blond who was softly smiling at himself. The brunet smiled too, warmly. And of course, Cloud missed this impression of clear affection.


	14. Episode 14

Episode 14

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

The twins had disappeared into the kitchen, to make some coffee with the dessert and had left the older pair of men to sit in silence on the couch, in the middle of the mess the gift opening had caused. It pained Squall to just sit like this and not clean up the ripped papers and strings, but maybe he should loosen up.. just this once. Even Cloud wasn't rushing at collecting the trash up, which was enough surprising to him. The blond was fiddling with the mp3-player he got from the twins, reading idly the booklet about he item. Suddenly Cloud turned his head to face the him.

"I do have something for you."

"Oh? And here I was thinking I had not deserved a thing from you." Squall grinned, pleased, since he had been a little surprised as the twins had gotten each something from the other and he had remained without anything. And yet he had said nothing, wondering in his privacy about the weirdness of the situation. Cloud smiled widely.

"Well.. you've been such a bad boy lately, you certainly do not deserve anything, but since I'm nice and all.." The blond reached behind the arm of the couch and handed the brunet a huge parcel, wrapped in golden paper. As he took it he noticed first how damned huge it was, then noticing the weigh of it. He shot a curious look at the other and ripped the paper off without any patience. Cloud was wearing a small, nervous smile over his lips as he watched Squall unwrapping the gift..

Finally he was holding a long black wooden box over his knees, looking at its smooth surface that gave out no other indication of what was inside except the huge silver head of the lion. Exactly the one he had around his neck and as a key chain -that too, was all thanks to Cloud-. Three silver clips held the lid closed. Gently, heart racing rapidly, Squall opened the box. His eyes widened, mouth went dry and then he simply gasped. Looking up to Cloud who was still smiling next to him, then back down, again up and down. This was certainly something he had never even dream of receiving!

"You..! This..!" He quickly placed the box on the living room table and jumped to Cloud's arms and lap, hugging the man tightly. "You stubborn prick! Honestly this is too much!" Squall buried his face to Cloud's shoulder and refused to let go, so close at crying he was. He felt the blond's arms to wrap loosely around his waist and heard the other laughing softly.

"I had to figure something brilliant, as your gift was so generous too." Cloud tilted his head suddenly and placed a chaste kiss on the brown hair. Squall closed his eyes, inhaling the familiar scent from Cloud's soft shirt.

"I can hardly compare a new couch to this.." He couldn't believe that the blond had managed to get this particular piece in his hands. It had probably been damn expensive too! Which did explain the lack of any smaller gifts. And the double jobs Cloud had been doing since November. "Wait.. you _knew _about the couch beforehand?" Squall loosened his desperate grip around the shoulders, noticing finally he had literally jumped into Cloud's lap and was now sitting over the blonds thighs. He leaned back and searched for the eyes he so loved to look at. Cloud's grin was lop-sided, the blue of his eyes warm and deep, inviting.

"Gee.. try to guess which little bird -or birds- told me a month earlier." Squall's eyes turned towards the kitchen for a moment and he wrinkled his nose.

"Those little gossip-loving-twits.." Not that he was really mad at the twins for blabbering about the new couch, he was too overwhelmed about what Cloud had given him. "I seriously thought for a moment that you loved those two more than me. Which would have been a fucking disaster, honestly." He grinned, feeling his heart swelling with joy. He let out a very uncharacteristic noise of happiness and leaned forward again to hug the other tightly. "You really shouldn't have.."

"I wanted to." Cloud had not let go of his waist and was now tightening his hold and Squall could feel the blond inhaling deeply. For a moment they were still, before the brunet heard the twins to giggle in the kitchen and realized how dangerous it would be them to be seen like this. There would be no end of teasing if the boys would find them in this position. He loosened his grip, regretting it, as usual, it wasn't very often that they got this close and Squall did love every passing second of these moments.

"If they see us like this.. I don't think either of us can endure the torture they'd make us go thru." He mumbled quietly next to Cloud's ear and immediately felt the arms around him letting go. Sighing, Squall climbed off from his cozy spot and sat next to the blond, but still near enough to feel the warmth radiating thru the white blouse Cloud was wearing. Which, Squall noted, suited the man so damn well. "You should wear white more often." He tried to hide his blush that had crept on his cheeks behind the veil of his brown locks and with a change of subject.

"I promise to wear completely white when I get married." Cloud was laughing softly again and the brunet shot a look at the other. What the hell was that suppose to mean? That there was no way that Cloud would wear more white, ever? Or did he have a special someone somewhere that he didn't know about? The man had been suspiciously cheery at times lately. Squall shook his head, trying to make the annoying questions disappear before they would ruin his now the most perfect Christmas evening.

Now that he thought of it, it made sense why Cloud had been so damn persistent about taking another job. Squall knew it was hard to work outside during wintertime and honestly, he had more than once thought Cloud would collapse from being so exhausted when the blond hauled his skinny ass to the club after a long day of deliveries in blizzard, and yet managed to pull out strength to serve the thirsty customers at Salvation. But Squall knew for sure the gift he had received was expensive to the point of being ridiculous, he didn't wonder why the other had insisted on working so hard. Though.. it left him questioning the motives of Cloud. Who -to be plain honest- would give their best friend such a present? It had more personal feeling in it, than just friendship.

They sat in silence, hearing how the twins were talking in the kitchen and watching their small decorated Christmas tree and its bright lights. The world outside was dark and cold, wind howling against the window glass. Squall was happy he didn't have to go outside now. He startled when he felt Cloud moving next to him, shifting so he could rest his head on the brunet's shoulder. He blinked, feeling rather surprised but said nothing. The blond was also quiet.

Maybe it was because they had drank wine with dinner before and were slightly tipsy from it, but Squall certainly didn't mind sitting like this. He felt himself leaning against the other, wanting to feel more of that warmth against his body. Neither of them said a thing but Cloud moved again giving the brunet a chance to slide his arm behind the blond and take a loose hold around the slim shoulders, pressing their bodies even closer. Both of the let out a small content sigh.

Squall recognized this particular fragrance no matter what state he would be in. The unique smell of Cloud was filling his nose and going straight up to his head, like it was similar with the wine, making him slightly drunk. The blond smelled clean, like soap and.. today there was something sweet too. Syrup? It was probably because Cloud had been in the kitchen whole day, creating the fabulous dinner and baking something that was still hidden somewhere in depths of their fridge.

Sitting like this, in silence, Squall always felt a funny warm feeling spreading around his chest and making it ache and throb gently. There just was nothing he wouldn't do for Cloud anymore. He had first thought the attraction of his had been only physical, because the blond was.. to put it nicely, fucking hot! But after these months they had nearly lived together the lust had transformed into something more permanent and stable. If it was the big L yet -of that he didn't even want to think yet- but something like it. Sure as hell it frightened him and the mere thought that Cloud would never look at him with eyes full of care and affection was devastating.

But he had seen the little looks that the blond gave him when he thought Squall didn't see. And all the little gestures.. it all was enough for him to believe there would be something mutual in the future. If there already wasn't. He didn't dare to ask since he was afraid that he had only been imagining it all and confirming that would shatter his world and brake his poor heart so completely. He had had a shattered heart before, yes, but with the man cuddle next to him.. it would be a lot more worse than it had been back then.

Cloud had been in a good mood for the past month and had not dwelt in depression much, not in front of Squall at least. It seemed the blond was more happy the more he had work to do. Cloud loved to push himself to his limits, that was clear to. Somehow it made the blond a masochistic, since seriously, who would _love_ working at two places at the same time, doing housework, looking after teenagers and a grumpy almost-a-roommate? Well.. the only one would probably be he himself. Of course at the same time Cloud's behavior was making him worried and yet, happy. For now, things were stable but if there was any hints the blond was about to break down he would insist that the other would stop the insane amount of work he was already doing.

The blond spikes were soft under his cheek as Squall let his head to rest over Cloud's head. It still amazed him how soft those could be. He had seen them to get wet in pouring rain and during very windy days and the spikes never lost their shape. He loved this blond hair and its utter gravity defying form. There weren't many things he didn't like about Cloud. Even when the other was depressed or pissed off, or they were arguing about something, the blond had found his way to Squall's heart and refused to fade from there. It saddened him that Cloud didn't seem to know how much he cared for the other. Though.. The brunet's eyes wandered over the gift he just got. Maybe he did know. The gift really was a bit too mighty thing to hand over to just someone.

The box had contained the one thing he wanted most -when it came to own materia-; a new weapon. A new gunblade. The version that actually shot bullets and was as beautiful as the frosted trees in moonlight. It must have cost a fortune for Cloud to get. Squall knew they made this particular weapon only when requested and that was enough for him to think the blond had a little more than just friendly feelings towards him. Squall's heart shipped few beats only because he thought of the possibility for the blond to share these emotions.

The mentioned man was being very quiet, which was nothing new to Squall, but the silence seemed to be more deeper than usually. The brunet tried to peek down, but saw only the spikes and thru the locks, the tips of Cloud's eyelashes. He seriously couldn't have..

"Hey.. are you sleeping already?" He squeezed the shoulders he had wrapped his arms around and got no response. "Seriously.." Squall sighed, smiling and leaned back to lean his cheek against the blond hair. It was stunning, how Cloud could fall asleep so quickly no matter where he was. Not more than once had he found the man leaning to his hand at the cafe Squall worked, and sleeping peacefully right there, in the middle of the busiest time when the place was filled with people rushing in and out.

There was a soft noise from behind him that nearly startled him.

"He fell asleep, didn't he?" Roxas' voice was quiet as he walked towards the table, carrying a tray where four cups were steaming. The smaller blond sat on the armchair and seemed to observe the other two on the couch, comfortably placed there so close. Squall just nodded.

"..not sleeping." A soft mumbling voice came from somewhere under Squall's chin and Cloud moved as if to prove he actually was awake.

"It's a miracle!"

"Fuck off.."

"No, seriously, dude.. you can fall asleep almost anywhere and anytime if you're given the chance." Roxas was grinning deviously at Cloud, who was trying to seem menacing but ended up looking just plain cute since he was still very much cuddled next to Squall.

"And you seriously can sleep with your brother anywhere and anytime." Cloud's snide reply was enough to just make Roxas' grin only more wider.

"Oh, you bet."

"Now now, children. Play nice." Squall cut the bantering short, sounding a little amused too. "We are not going to talk about incest tonight. So behave or I'll make you scrub the bathroom with your toothbrushes." Cloud punched the brunet to his side and Roxas stuck out his tongue just in time as Sora returned to the room with a huge cake in his hands.

"Aww, you're having fun here without me! Not fair.." The younger brunet faked a sad face, placing the cake on the table. Squall felt the blond cuddled under his chin to move and loosened his hold of the man so he could sit more straight. Though, he never let go completely of the other. He had no intention of even doing so. Let the twins see and torment him later, he just felt like he wanted to be like this tonight.

"You found the dessert, I see." Cloud stated the obvious, making the twins to snort simultaneously.

"Well, obviously. It's been few hours already since we ate and you know.. you should have put this piece of delicacy somewhere else if it wasn't meant for eating tonight.." Sora grinned, cutting a huge piece out of the chocolate covered cake. "Ooohh.. what's this inside?"

"Raspberry cream.." Cloud glanced quickly at Squall and then quickly averted his eyes to the floor, embarrassed.

"Really? I'll have a piece then too.." Squall smiled widely. Sora giggled, cutting a piece and handing it over to the older brunet who immediately took a spoonful of the softness. He loved dark chocolate and raspberries, more than anything, and their brilliant cook sure did know that. The taste was enough sweet and a bit bitter to make him want to purr. He took another spoonful and held it before Cloud's surprised face. "It's delicious. Say aaa~" The blond had a confused expression over his face for a moment before he managed to open his mouth and take in the spoon.

Cloud smiled faintly, licking his lips and causing Squall to avert his eyes off from the other. The twins were quietly watching them, which was enough for the brunet to fear they were on to something, which would only lead into trouble.

"I don't.." Cloud spoke finally and they all turned to look at the man. "..usually even like sweet things, but this really is good. Even if I say it myself.." A faked, self satisfied grin crept upon the pretty face. "I'm just too awesome, ain't I?" Sora and Roxas let out a loud snort, but Squall just smiled widely. He reached over to wipe a crumb of the chocolate from the corner of the blonds mouth.

"Yes, you really are." Squall's smile turned warm and tender, the twins lifting their coffee cups high and simultaneously cheered something like 'Aye aye, sir!' grinning madly. Cloud blushed furiously and tried to make a serious face, failing miserably at it and hid his face back to the safety of Squall's shoulder.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_Short and sweet this time. Happy holidays! Hug each other~_


	15. Episode 15

Episode 15

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><p>Cloud<p>

He knew he was dreaming, the way you sometimes just have that knowledge during your slumber. The dream wasn't anything particularly fascinating, just an old memory from the days they were wandering around in a group hunting down some bad guys and doing some stuff that could be understood as good deeds.

Green fields. Those never ending green fields that kept going as far as the eye could see. The grass waving slowly in the wind that blew past. The horizon so bright and blue. And so green and gentle the eyes that watched over his eager steps as he ran forward, never really reaching what ever he was trying to reach. One of those dreams where you can fly but you know you can't in real life, but you still do so.

Something disturbed his senses and he became more aware of his surroundings in waking world than the dream one. Cloud was pretty sure he wasn't alone anymore. There was someone or something staring at him in close range. The dream faded slowly, left the man feeling a little confused about his whereabouts and where the devil was his Buster.

He opened his eyes and faced the gray silence of the familiar living room of the Leonhart residence. He also recognized the familiar and highly annoying ogling next his resting form.

"Goddamn it Squall.. How many times do I have to tell to not to do that.." He groaned and saw a flash of teeth as the other man grinned self satisfied smile. Agh.. Cloud just wanted to drift back to sleep and have an actual day off from any duties. "Go annoy someone else. You've been hanging around Sora too much.."

"Oh, stop being a whiny bitch Cloud and get that bony ass of yours up. We've gotta get out!"

"..." He really didn't want to register those words Squall had just nearly squealed out of his mouth. "W-what?"

"C'mon! You didn't think that I wouldn't want to get out to test that new baby you got me yesterday, did you now? Your own fault for giving me that. Now suffer the consequences!" The brunet yanked the blanket off the Cloud's body, causing the blond to make an angry protest at it and pulling the cover back up, holding it tight against his chin, like his life was depending on it. He also tried very hard to stare the other to death. No results. Damn. Maybe he could suffocate Squall?

"You're insane. It's cold and freezing out there. Like hell I'm gonna get up just to get my ass frozen for your entertainment!" Though he couldn't dismiss the thought of a test fight for the new Gunblade was in fact definitely in order, not to mention what a splendid opportunity it would be for him to make Squall suffer for waking him up. It was the cold that kept him nailed to the couch. But, he wasn't good at denying anything from Squall when he was giddily looking at him, his blue eyes bright and full of excitement. Cloud sighed, mentally slapping himself for being an easy prey. "Fine.. You win. But it's your turn to make coffee this morning!" Squall merely grinned and fled the room before the blond could throw his pillow at him.

* * *

><p>An hour later they were standing in the cold morning breeze on the field they usually were sparring. Cloud shivered at the cold and gripped the handle of Buster, as if the leather under his gloved hand would get him warmer that way. To get really warm, there was only one way and he was anxious to get moving. It wasn't like they really needed any warming up since this kind of sport came automatically to them as they set themselves to better positions for the battle to begin.<p>

Squall always chose to stand like that, like nothing was bothering him and he looked so damn bored it made Cloud want to slap that ignorance out of the others system. Cloud's fingers were now almost itching. He paced slowly in the heavy snow, staring at the brunet, trying to set his moods more into to the tone of sword fighting. It had been a while since they had been able to make it out to clash the swords together, mostly because it had been insanely busy before the holidays.

There was only a slight change in Squall's impression before the man lounged forward the blond. Cloud made a defensive move, Buster met the Gunblade with clear clanging sound and the two men jumped backwards from each before attacking both again. They weren't yet completely dwelling in the blissful feeling of battle heat for now settled for testing the opponent, but slowly going towards that road.

Cloud danced backwards as the Gunblade was again swung to his direction, nearly reaching his cheek. Hastily he had managed to dodge and rolled in the snow, cursing himself for not noticing the forceful blow to take place. Squall was definitely enjoying this and was making it hard for the blond to have any time to recover or cut any slack just because they were friends. Which, he didn't mind because it would've been plain cheating.

Cloud dived forward as the silvery swing came again towards his way and rolled to Squall's left side, got up quickly and landed a strong slap to the brunets back with the flat of his sword. The brunet fell on his knees and let out a strangled huff of air as the hit had most likely emptied his lungs. Cloud hoped he hadn't land that blow too heavily. Sometimes he didn't just quite grasp the sheer weight of his sword and how it could break bones when smacked against someone. For his delight, Squall was one of those people who didn't go and break even when playing with him.

"That's for trying to ruin my good looks." Cloud snarled as Squall was getting up. He was then surprised by the other attacking him with such force he was forced to retreat several meters with the other landing more hits with his sword. Blocking them all, the blond grit his teeth and stopped almost in the middle, taking a step to his side and at the same time kicking Squall to his right side with his boot and swinging Buster to finish the surprise and sent the brunet again flying into the snow.

"Ruining my hair, aren't you. Asking for more trouble!" Squall grinned as he got up again and spat snow out of his mouth and with one hand he drew the tip of the sword over the snow, ran towards Cloud and flung the blade into air, knowing probably quite well the weapons would meet in the air. As they did, sparks flying around, clear and visible in the vast morning light.

"How intriguing, Squall, you actually are superficial after all."

"Shut up, Mr. fancy-pants."

"You're welcome to try."

The brunet growled and all Cloud next could figure was the other having tripped him into the snow with one sneakily landed kick to his groin and suddenly he was the one eating snow and cursing. He reached out with his left hand that was free and took a hold of Squall's ankle and yanked hard. Squall lay in the snow soon enough, again.

"You're two behind, sucker." Cloud grinned, pushing himself up and sweeping the snow off his clothes. Before the other was able to land another surprise attack on him, he took the chance and prepared this time better. The bastard had made him wet his clothes! That mistake would NOT happen again.

Indeed, the other lounged once again towards him, with a extremely cool face, like he was entirely focused on the mission of making Cloud surrender. The Gunblade came this time from below, making the blond to force his enormous sword to twist downwards to block the attack. Buster was big, yes, but he was used to handling it's weight and controlling it's course when he swung it in any direction. Buster was the extension of his right arm. The second blow came from the left side and Cloud blocked that one too swiftly. The third one came again from below and almost landed on his stomach. He fell to the ground, on his back and quickly rolled to his right to escape Squall's crushing knee that tried to make his family jewels turn into scrambled eggs.

"One more.." The brunet was making a rather frightening face at the moment and if it had been someone else in Cloud's position, that person would have most likely peed their pants and ran away as fast as they could. The blond dug the tip of Buster to the frozen ground and heaved himself up. The handle was getting slippery from the snow that had melt there. Cloud place his both hands on it and lifted the terrifying blade before him.

"Come on pretty boy, show me what you got." Squall needed no other reason to prolong his next move and sprang ahead, the tip of his sword moving up from the snow again with frightening speed. Metallic ring in the air as the blades met again, the sparks visible and their grins so wide someone might have thought them to be pretty much insane.

The snow under them started to turn into melting mess, making their feet slip now and then, neither of them really paying any attention to this fact. The sun was starting to rise slowly from the horizon, its beams finding their way to the surface of the swords. Gunblade was bright and clean, shimmered and glistened under the dancing rays and in the hand of it's wielder it seemed to form the most elegant courses as it was being flung around. Cloud swung the his huge blade, noting the same time the beauty of Squall's weapon and it's master, appreciating the view the way only someone like him could. Beauty divine, that it was to him.

Squall was just about to surge ahead when his feet found the right spot of melting snow and an area of ice forming under it. He slipped and fell on his bottom, looking baffled the moment his ass hit the ground with an audible thud. Cloud stared down at the other, unable to determine should he thrust his sword down and announce his obvious victory or should he help the other. He decided to fall for the third option. He started to laugh.

"Nice fall." He snickered, his cheerfulness rising as the brunets face turned more offended than anything.

"Oh.. shut up and help me up." Squall raised his hand for Cloud to help him, but when the blond took the hand, there was in no time two men lying in the snow. "There, that should make us even." Squall grinned deviously, satisfied he had managed to get the blond down one more time and wet his clothes more.

"If I get sick because of this, I'm going to ram that sword up your rear." Cloud couldn't help but to smile too.

"Then I'll just have to nurse you back to being healthy again."

"As if that would ever happen. I'm not suicidal, you know. Even though I let myself get dragged out in the middle of the night just for sword fighting. And with you, of all the sane people around me.." They scrambled back up to their feet, cleaning their clothes of the snow. Squall gestured at Cloud with his hand something inappropriate as an answer and went on then to check his sword.

"You know.." Squall was holding the Gunblade high, before his face and peered the smooth surface one eye closed. "There seem to be scratches over on my precious blade.." His voice got a little lower and little more menacing. "You DO know what the punishment is for whacking that big butchering knife of yours so hard it damages the perfect surface of MY sword!" When he finally looked at Cloud he found the space being empty and the blond visible in the far distance. The brunet snickered slightly, placed his sword to its scabbard and pondered for a moment should he try shooting the other instead of running after him. Nah, would be too cruel, he would let Cloud get away with it. This time.

* * *

><p><em>AN_

_So sorry it took so damn long to get anything uploaded! Just been too brain dead.. Forgive the foolish author of yours! I'm gathering my strength more and more now that the darn winter is getting less depressing (too dark and gloomy up here in the north :D)._

_Thank you being so patient! Loads of cup cakes and love~ _


	16. Episode 16

Episode 16

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><p>Cloud<p>

The blizzard outside was enough to make him want to just cuddle under the blankets and drift to sleep, but noo.. he had to have a shift this evening and thus, was forced to go out there. Actually, all of them would have to get out and freeze their butts. It would probably blow him off. Hmm.. now there was an idea, certainly. Maybe the wind would just lift him off and carry to somewhere hot and more pleasant. Sunny, even.

Cloud sighed, defeated.

It was New Years and he had promised to take an extra shift at the club since there was a bigger party arranged and they certainly needed more staff to work at the bar. It didn't bother him to work, of course not. He had kept the job even after he had gained all the money to buy the weapon to Squall for Christmas. The blond smiled, fiddling with the hem of the kitchen window curtain. Yes, he definitely had figured something he also wanted to have. And that, was something a bit bigger and a wee bit more expensive than an upgraded weaponry.

Of course, he had not said a word to Squall. The man would only get more worried, which was enough for Cloud to shut his pretty mouth for the moment. He would reveal his plans if things would go well.

A jingling chime of the doorbell startled the blond out of his thoughts, making him to rush at the door and wonder who the fuck would be there at this hour. The twins were still in their room and Squall was taking a shower, so it was none of them. Maybe Reno was bored and was daring to interrupt their blizzard-filled evening?

Oh, but no. How wrong could one be. The man who stood behind the door was a complete stranger to him and it seemed to Cloud, that seeing him open the door was enough to make the other man confused too.

"This is the Leonhart residence, am I right?" The man was smaller than Cloud was, and tightly dressed in winter clothes which revealed only the blue, curiously twinkling eyes and pale, frostbitten skin.

"Yes..?"

"You ain't Axel so I guess Squally has taken either a butler or you're his new boyfriend." The scarf was tucked down and the hood of the jacket laid to the neck. Cloud was now able to see the facial tattoo of the blond man -and what an interesting hairstyle, suddenly it was clear he wasn't the only one in the world whose hair defied the law's of nature- and looked a bit more confused. What did Axel have to do with Squall? "I'm Zell. Nice to meet you. Mind if I get in?"

"Sure.." Cloud was too baffled to say anything else and let the other walk inside the flat. Wait.. Did this Zell person just hint that Axel had.. been... Squall's.. Cloud's brains tried hard not to explode at this point. The thought of Axel.. THAT AXEL? He was on the verge of punching the door he closed, trying to control his facial expression enough not to show the rage that was slowly building inside his guts.

"Are the guys home? I haven't seen the little pricks in years either." Zell was taking off his warm jacket and just as he was hanging it up, there was a surprised squeal further from the flat. Sora had emerged from the twins' room and was now tackling the small blond man.

"Uncle Zell!"

"Oh shi.. Damn you have grown a lot Sora!" Zell was all smiles and grins now, hugging the clinging boy tightly. "Where's your better half? I know he must be here since you never are separate.."

"Well, if it isn't the famous wiener-man.." Roxas' snide was merely amused as he peered into the corridor to see what the racket was all about.

"Hey, that was only once and it was an accident. We do not speak about it anymore." Zell grinned even more wide, if it even was possible. Roxas let out a childish -very unlike of the boy- giggle and rushed to hug the man.

Cloud was standing there, feeling more than enough a stranger. It was uncomfortable to be there to witness such a warm meeting of people who obviously were very fond of each other. Roxas was the first one to notice how expressionless face Cloud was having and untangled himself from Zell, who was having his hands still full of giggling and squealing Sora.

"Ah. Cloud.. This is an old schoolmate of Squall's; Zell Dincht. Zell, this is our almost-roommate and Squall's second hand in about everything; Cloud Strife." Cloud didn't even notice himself to move, but he seemed to have put on a slightly warmer impression over his face and was shaking the hand of the tattooed man.

"Ohh.. Then you're not a boyfriend or a butler. Damn.. I could've sworn you to be either one." Next to Zell, Sora's smile suddenly had faded as he studied the clearly faked half-smile Cloud was giving to the grinning man.

"No, he's definitely not a butler, tough he does cook and do the laundry.." A low voice sneered from the direction of the bathroom, where Squall had emerged, hair dripping water still -and on Cloud's opinion, looked drop dead sexy-. The brunet wore an unreadable smile over his lips as he studied the blond man who had made a fuss to their peaceful evening. "Nice for you to stop by finally. It did take you almost 6 years to do so, but who's counting." Squall finally was melting into a devious grin.

"Hah, and you sure still are an ass. The years seem to have been rough on you, you old fart. You look old and wrinkled. Have the boys given you a hard time?" Zell had finally gotten rid of Sora's death grip and was trying to gather some air to his lungs.

"Hard time? Oh no.. it would be the other way around more, I'd say."

"Well, that I can believe." The man burst into laughter that reminded Cloud immediately about Reno. Maybe Zell was a distant relative or something as insane.

"So, what brings you here on this nasty weather?" Squall motioned the man to follow him to the kitchen and the two disappeared there, leaving Cloud standing in the corridor with the twins. The blond was having hard time to digest all that had happened in the past ten minutes or so. His brains were sort of.. not functioning at the moment. At all. He needed a moment of peace now. And yet.. all he wanted to do was to follow the two men into the kitchen and listen everything they said, look at their faces and try to read everything between the lines.

"Earth to Cloud.. You still with us?" Sora was waving his hand before the blonds face and the man blinked, trying to focus to the surroundings a bit more. "You know, Zell's always like that. Kinda like Reno. Blurts stuff out of his mouth without thinking. So.. don't take the butler thing to your heart! To us.. you know, you are more like a mothe...NGH!"

"What the twat here is trying to say, is that you are like a member of the family, nearly blood related ." Roxas had once again quieted his brother with a hand slapped over the blabbering mouth and tried to save the situation as much as he could. Cloud did appreciate the gesture more than he probably did show.

"I'm fine." Cloud just stated and shot a look towards the kitchen, yearning to be there.

"Seriously, go there. I'm sure they won't mind." Roxas tried to keep his wriggling brother still, still covering the brunet's mouth, clearly pretending to be oblivious to the others discomfort. Cloud was hesitant tough, thinking mainly that this was probably the feeling after someone had performed a lobotomy to you.

After the twins had practically forced him to enter the room with the two older men Cloud found himself standing stupefied at the kitchen door and not knowing did he want to flee from the scene, did he want to strangle someone or did he want to sit down someone and interrogate that person with highly dubious methods.

Zell was just explaining something with his hands waving in the air and Squall smiling a smile that made Cloud's heart skip a beat. Had the other really been together with Axel? Had they been in love? How long? Who broke up with who? His head was about to explode from not knowing, the feeling of it gnawing his insides so furiously it made him want to hurl. Maybe he just had misunderstood.

"Ahah, I'm sorry about that before, man. Just was surprised to see a pretty boy opening the door and then to notice that you most likely could kick my ass thru the wall or something I kinda figured you'd be.. his.. Aaaann~nyway! So, I'm old friend from the grumpy's boarding school era." The smaller blond was smiling a genuine warm smile trying to convince Cloud about the man's intentions to be nothing even close at malicious.

"I'm still waiting for you to explain your reason to actually get your ass out in that weather." Squall motioned Cloud to come closer. "Don't just stand there, dummy. Sit." Cloud tried to shake the image of him being a dog out of his mind and simply slumped next to the brunet who flashed him a reassuring smile. Oh that smile.. It made his knees feel so weak he wanted to beat himself up for being weak before this man. He wanted to do the most embarrassing things with Squall, including whole lot of snuggling and dozing off under the same blanket. Why has his mind turned into pink mush?

"Oh yeah!" Zell moved on his chair the way the it made him look like he nearly had jump a bit in the air. "I'm a messenger. Sort of. Haha." He dug his pockets and pulled out a little wrinkled letter and slid it over the table to Squall. "That's my reason for my daredevil venturing out in the blizzard, though it wasn't snowing that much outside the town, u know, I came a looong way just to see your dazzling smile." The brunet took the envelope and eyed it curiously. It seemed to have taken some damage during Zell's little journey here. The messenger was leaning to the back of the chair happily grinning as Squall opened the envelope and pulled out a card.

"Oh." The brunet let out an almost surprised gasp and then smiled. "So they're finally making it official, huh."

"Yeah. Took long enough 'cuz Irv ain't around so ofter because of his job. But now he got a promotion or something like that and can stay in town all the time, which of course led into this." Cloud was following the conversation in silence, having already figured the letter most likely to be..

"My two other friends from the same school are getting married. Finally." Squall turned to face Cloud and smiled. "We've waited this since we graduated." He eyed the card again. "You know.. Selphie would kill you if she knew what state the invitation is at the moment."

"Agh, don't even dare to go and tell about that to her! She'd rip me in pieces.. in mere seconds!" Zell did manage to look a little guilty. "Honestly.. Dude, have you heard the word 'bridezilla'? She's exactly like that. Irv's safe and sound and manages to squirm out of the rage-range of her's easily, but the rest of us.. not a chance. Nu'uh, never." There was a hint of panic in his voice and the blue eyes looked drained, but only a fleeting second and then the small man was grinning again.

The two continued their conversation while Cloud kept his mouth shut, just observing silently. Of course, there was nothing alerting about Zell, now that he had the time to listen the man chatting happily about things that had happened since the last time the old friends had gotten together. Cloud glanced at Squall, who wore an unexpected little smile over his lips. The brunet was visibly pleased to see and hear news about these people. Cloud had never really had understood that aspect of thoughts, usually his past was so painful and full of more or less angry people wanting him to be dead or.. something as negative.

"So. Squall.. You will come with the boys?" Zell finally asked, looking almost serious for a moment. He also shot a curious look over at Cloud. "And perhaps your.. friend too?"

The brunet startled and looked at the man sitting next to him, like the suggested idea was something that had never crossed the his mind. Which was probably true. Cloud sighed mentally and offered the baffled friend of his a lop-sided smile.

"I'm sorry, but it is not my place to be, but thank you for being considerate. Also I need to stay here and keep working.." Squall's eyes revealed nothing to him, not even a hint of disagreement. Zell was shooting looks between the two, trying most likely to figure was someone going to explode. Cloud stood up, averting his eyes downward. "I still need to take a shower. Squall, we need to get to the club in an hour or so. Zell, was nice to meet you." He escaped the room as gallantly as he could without his anxiety pushing thru.

This was getting out of hand, this feeling. He should calm down or he would ruin the whole evening. Cloud retired into the bathroom, feeling so rotten he wanted to hurl right now. But, he was determined not to lower himself to a level of a nervous little girl. Straight into the shower then, eh. Most definitely a freezing cold one!

After the calming shower -and some lonely tears that well hid into the stream of falling water, which he of course, did not even notice-, Cloud felt stable enough to return to the midst of his friends. The twins greeted his appearance with long silent glares when he stepped into the living room.

"We're almost late." Cloud growled at the boys, who looked more or less eager to scold him or something as cheery. "What?"

"You sure you aren't on periods or something? You kinda behave like someone has pissed in your morning cereal.." Sora sniggered, tilting his head towards his brothers shoulder. The blond twin flashed an evil grin this time, not even trying to keep his mouthy brother quiet.

"And for what do I deserve these comments?"

"Well... You could say it has something to do with your behavior with certain people about 30minutes earlier." Sora continued his smile disappearing slowly. "Dude, you were so transparent. Makes you rude as hell, you know. Good thing Zell is used to Squall's blunt statements so he just ignored you." Cloud managed to look at least a bit embarrassed.

"That was just.. because.." Stuttering! Fantastic..

"Oh, we know. You got a wee bit baffled because he burst here without a warning, called you Squallies boyfriend and then even semi-invited you to the wedding with us. Almost like as a family. Enough to make one snappy." Roxas finally spoke, ignoring his snickering brother. Cloud shuffled at his feet, staring at his toes.

"Long story short; Squall's a bit pissed at you."

"Well, not sure if he's pissed at him, but more likely annoyed."

"Yeah, that's the word."

"Oh.. So, basically I'm fucked." Cloud groaned. The twins grinned in unison.

* * *

><p>The twins had been lured into defying the calming blizzard by Zell, who was going to his hotel and wanted the boys to escort him there. Twins had insisted Zell to stay at their place but the tattooed man had just grinned and the subject was left at that. Also, Sora and Roxas had agreed to this adventure in the snowy streets because they wanted to force Cloud and Squall into same car and to sort out the little misunderstanding, before they would be sucked into working all night long.<p>

That was the reason for Cloud sitting in Squall's car, staring out without really seeing anything. Ok, so he was still feeling a bit pissed because he didn't want to have this information about the brunet's past -it would have been easier if he didn't actually _know_ the guy that had laid hand on Squall- and it irritated him that he had been acting like a petulant child. The other was driving in silence, which made the blond want to just say something. _Anything_!

"You know.. uh, Squall. I'm sorry that I was an ass. Before. Towards your friend."

"Mmh.."

"You know.. I just got baffled. Because he's more talkative than Reno and Sora put together."

"Oh.. true that one." A hint of a smile appeared to the corner of the brunet's lips finally. Cloud swallowed hard, deciding to reveal the reason for his bluntness.

"He also said something about Axel." Cloud's voice was as blank as he could make it. Squall's eyes widened for a moment, the smile disappeared fairly fast, which was enough for the blond to realize his fears were few steps closer to being true after all. He just couldn't make himself to ask _the_ question.

"Oh. That. Umh.." It was rare for the brunet to be at loss of words and now it made him feel even worse, hearing it. "I've known Axel a long time. He used to hang out with me when I still lived in Twilight Town." Squall was avoiding Cloud, simply staring out over the steering wheel. The blond wanted to scream; Yeah? Just like we are just _hanging out_?, but he remained quiet and just nodded.

"Kinda figured."

The silence crept upon them like a sneaky thief, trying to cut their ability to speak at all. After a while, Cloud just couldn't take the pressuring silence anymore.

"I hope it wont get too packed."

"Don't worry. If you start feeling bad you can just escape to the backroom. Or just send me a message and I'll come to save you." A highly loud pause. "Again." The brunet grinned lightly, causing Cloud to snort, but smiling anyway too.

* * *

><p>Since it indeed was New Years, and there was a party thrown for it -like in almost every bar there was in town-, it was expected to attract a lot of people. But Cloud had never in his wildest dreams -nightmares, in this case- imagined the club to be this full. It was almost frightening, but he had decided to keep his head cool and get thru the night. Alive, if possible.<p>

The amount of people inside of course caused the bar itself to be the busiest place and had forced the workers to increase their numbers up to six -usually there was only three of them- and even Axel had joined their merry group.

There was pretty much no moment of peace granted to any of them, but somehow Cloud managed to keep his eyes on the pretty red head, who was laughing with the customers so freely and flirty. He could somehow see why Squall has set his eyes at the other, the man was seriously gorgeous if you just got past all the weird twitching and facial tattoos. Or the piercing eyes -not that he was one to talk about unnatural eyes..-. If he hadn't been so pissed off he might have thought Axel to be quite charming too. The man was fluent with his interacting with people and made everyone feel like they were definitely the only ones getting his attention at the time.

The music was so loud -there were a bunch of DJ's performing tonight- Cloud had hard time hearing even the orders that were shouted from the other side of the counter. He tried to keep his attention focused on his work and customers but his eyes inevitably found their way back to the red spikes no matter how much he tried. The same questions kept spinning in his head on and on, like a huge wheel that would never stop; Really? When? Serious? Why they had broken up?

He really hated himself for going over these things when he should have definitely been just happy the -supposed!- relationship didn't exist anymore and Squall was free to direct his attention towards Cloud. Ahah, yeah, right. Like that would ever happen. But still, it killed him to even think the other touching someone else, or ever looking.

He was too busy with his thoughts to notice Axel had disappeared at some point. Cloud shot an angry searching gaze into the crowd behind the wall of thirsty customers. The red hair should be easy to spot, at least.

His blue eyes moved swiftly, almost panicking about the room that was filled with black clothed people and flashing lights, looking for that one person he for some reason wanted to glare -to the pits of hell, most preferably- but was unable to find the target. It didn't definitely help at all when the people ordering drinks tried to hit on him, no exceptions. Mostly it was hilarious, but not today. Cloud felt like his faked smile was starting to fade very rapidly, the more he was forced to endure the half assed suggestions. He could have let Squall to beat them into a bloody pulp.. His eyes moved automatically towards the stage and the DJ's stand to see the brunet.

Suddenly his heart seemed to stop.

Squall was indeed on the stage and looking good in every way. The only thing that was making Cloud to almost lose his self restraint completely, was the teeny tiny fact that the person he had been looking for was to be now found next to Squall. And looking as dashing as one can look while very obviously trying to hit on the person next to you. The blond almost evaporated steam out of his ears as the two men on the stage were smiling together to something Axel had said.

It tore his heart apart to see those two close like that when he had no damned right to feel like this. And having to witness that little caress over the bare arm of the brunet with the redheads slim fingers.. he shivered almost violently because of suppressed anger.

Cloud squeezed the lemon slice into his fist, the juice squirting over the table. Fuck that! If Squall was so eager to let his ex-lover to touch him -and almost jumped out of the way if Cloud was the one to do so! What was with that anyway, huh?- then he could also do what ever he wished to do!

Of course, Cloud never admitted to himself that the only thing and person he wanted to do was Squall and no one else. He was too furious and had to rip his eyes off of the flirting couple on the stage, focusing on his chores for the moment, angrily making the drinks. He got questioning looks from the co-workers of his and naturally from the customers who had to receive his stubborn anger thru the making of drinks that nearly fell all over the counter.

He had to do something or else he would end up screaming at someone who had nothing to do with his foul moods.

"I need to take a break." Cloud yelled at the young boy next to him working. Riku just nodded and merely lifted one eyebrow, asking silently if everything was ok. The blond just waved and fled the counter as smoothly as he could in that state of mind.

Now, he had not planned to go to face those two, never, but.. it seemed he was on his way towards the stage and to actually glare the two men. Or to beat them. Just because he felt like it was just the thing to do to ease his painfully throbbing heart. He was nearly reaching his destination when he bumped into someone.

A flash of green eyes and pointy red hair. Reno grinned widely at him.

"Thought you were working!" The smaller man yelled into Cloud's ear.

"I was. I mean I am! I just.. had to.." Reno was standing face to face to him. Cloud could feel the narrow body and its pulsing heat thru his thin shirt. He could almost feel the heartbeat too. Or maybe it was his. Those green eyes were drilling into his scull and emptied it swiftly.

Before Cloud could even think properly he had grabbed the redhead and pulled him close and into a rough kiss.

Reno's body seemed to stiffen for a moment, before the man took action and took a hold of Cloud's head in return, forcing their faces even closer and the kiss to deepen.

Cloud felt like his world was spinning fast around him and he could do nothing to stop it.

Finally he freed himself from the now curious looking Reno. Cloud said nothing and did nothing. He was stupefied by his own stupidity. Now what exactly had been the point in doing that? The thought of Squall's kiss lingered somewhere in his thoughts and he was comparing it to this kiss he had just participated. Oh yeah, Squall. He had wanted to punch Axel's face and do something evil to the brunet too. It all seemed so vague and irrelevant now.

As Cloud finally had lift his eyes to the stage he found Squall there still but the brunet was looking rather gloomy and was glaring at the blond directly. No.. actually that face was blank as white paper. Which could only mean that the man was pissed off. Badly.

Time for Cloud to flee from the scene..

* * *

><p>Squall<p>

So. Cloud had done something extremely stupid. Why? Or more likely; why was it pissing him off so badly as the little scene he had witnessed had been nothing but fake. It had been like that, right? RIGHT? That.. look on Cloud's face just a moment before the kiss -still made him feel like someone was squeezing his insides into a tight fist- it had been dark as stormy sky. Obviously something had pissed the blond off and thus had made him act like he never would had he been sane enough to think.

Squall was pacing the backstage from room to room, arms folded before him, his mind trying to stay calm. He wanted to punch something or someone, very badly. His fists tightened and he made a sudden stop before the wall and hit it with all his might.

"FUCK!" Okay, that hurt. Squall bent the fingers enough to feel pain but to be sure nothing had broken. The skin was red and tingled as the pain was no longer nothing more than a throb. Had it been the wanted effect that would remove his bad feeling inside? No. He growled and turned away from the wall. Stupid wall..

Squall had to stop again. Cloud was standing in the doorway and looking at him with colder eyes the brunet had ever seen before. The blue of those orbs were bordering freezing death already. Not that he would look away, oh no.

There was uncomfortable silence between them as they stared at each other, neither really wanting to open their mouth and start talking. Finally Squall gathered his thoughts enough.

"So.. Got anything to say?" He did try to sound calm and uncaring. Cloud shifted on his feet uncomfortably.

"About what?" The blond was clearly sulking and it somehow was irritating Squall even more than he was ready to admit.

"Like you don't know what I'm referring to." The comment was a bit too snappish he had meant it to be, but it was too late now. He should just let it all out now that he was doomed to perish anyway because of this. "You could've told me a little earlier but maybe I should just congratulate you. You know, for coming out of the closet finally and in public too."

Cloud was gaping at him and tried to grasp desperately to some sane thought.

"WHAT?" The blond growled angrily finally. "Like who's the one to announce your getting back together with your old flame in public! Your boss, to make it even more interesting!"

It was Squall's turn to be at loss of words. What the fuck was Cloud talking about? Axel? And how the fuck had the man come up with the idea of him and the red head ever having even been together? Of course it was true, but that wasn't the point here now!

"What the fuck are you babbling about? There's nothing between me and Axel."

"Yeah, right. Nothing at all. Like anyone's going to believe that. Judging the way you two were nearly on each other on the stage it was pretty damn obvious there's SOMETHING going on! Don't try to fool me Squall, I know what flirting looks like when I see it."

"Oh, look who's talking! It's not like YOU weren't the one to actually try to dip your tongue into Reno's throat in the middle of the crowd!" Squall was definitely getting more and more pissed all the time. How the hell did Cloud even _dare_ to say that shit?

"Right, yea.. well! That was.. just because you..! I wasn't trying to stick my tongue into Reno's throat!" There were clear spots of red over Cloud's cheeks as if the man would be embarrassed about the thing he did. Yeah, right. As if he was.

"Me? I haven't done a damned thing so don't you try to roll the blame on me! You're the one who clearly jump into stupid conclusions and act before your pretty little head can follow."

"I _saw_ you up there. You were _smiling_ and standing close with Axel and.. You didn't even admit that you two had been together before when I asked you about your relationship with Axel!"

Squall glared a moment the blond without saying a thing. So that's why Cloud had been so grumpy when they had left the apartment. Where had he learned about him and Axel... The answer hit him suddenly. Argh.. That over-talkative Zell. He had to be the source. The man would face the evident dismissal of his testicles sooner than he would expect.

"Fine! Yes, me and Axel were together once, but it didn't last long and we remained as friends after that. And the reason why Axel was standing so close to me before was because he was simply telling me the funny little thing called his wife and what she had said and it was kinda noisy out there so it's pretty fucking obvious we lean in to get our words thru! Happy now?" He tried to drill a hole thru Cloud's stupid head. What a dumbass.

"..." Cloud was out of words and seemed to be more embarrassed than before. If he had not been, Squall probably had never even considerate about forgiving him this thing.

"If you are able to feel sorry for causing unnecessary shit then we won't talk about this ever again." He paused for a moment to take a deep breath and to calm himself down. "And I'm willing to forgive you if you also will never bring this subject up again. Deal?"

"..." Cloud was staring the floor. "Deal." The blond did seem to be truly ashamed of himself.

"Great. Now, let's get home before I'll get more pissed and ruin my upcoming good night's sleep." Fucking dimwit.. He felt like hitting a wall or something now and knew it would be impossible to see Cloud's face for a few days. What a start for a new year.


	17. Episode 17

Episode 17

* * *

><p>Cloud<p>

Grey light was already pouring in thru the closed curtains when a certain blond man, wrapped in warm clothes appeared on the door and made his way in. He sneezed softly and shivered as the warmth embraced him in the corridor after the chilly morning air. The run had not been very good, as his mind was still lingering on last night and the unspeakable stuff he had pulled off in front of Squall.

Embarrassment swept over and Cloud felt like sinking under the floor. How low can you honestly go! Had he actually _kissed_ Reno? In Gaia's name.. please tell me that was just a bad dream.

Sadly, all of it was true and he sat on the edge of the couch, scratching his head. He didn't really want to be here at the moment but he didn't want to be at his so called official home either. It was empty and quiet most likely, even if Tifa would be there. The unresolved situation kept him nailed to this place, not matter how he wished himself far, far away. He hated just about everything at the moment. Everything was going down the drain anyway so why not mope a bit more! At least he knew how to do that properly, if nothing else.

The uneasy feeling grew inside him and all he wanted to do was to go and beg forgiveness from Squall. Of course he would do that, right after his pride would give in and he could mutter something positive out. Which, would happen probably.. not in this lifetime. He sighed deeply, ran his hands thru his spikes and got up. He should just suck it up and go home before things would get ugly as Squall would get up. He paced nervously in the living room, not knowing where to turn or what to do first. He wanted to flee from here, since he felt guilty as hell as this was not officially his home, he was only a guest here. And then again, he wanted to stay and apologize the bad things he had done and said, but was shit scared to open his mouth. And his pride would make his mouth say something quite the opposite he was planning to say.

Rage lifted its ugly head inside him. There was of course the matter of Squall's fury.. Why had the man gotten so angry at him? They were just friends, as they both always claimed the situation to be. Had the anger sprung from jealousy? No, not that. It wasn't possible for the other to feel that way. The man was cold as a fucking fish when it came to matters of heart. Maybe Squall just wanted to be the one to say whom Cloud was allowed to meddle with and whom not! Disgusted, Cloud made and ugly face and discarded the thought quickly. Squall wasn't a bad person, just bad tempered and too introverted most of the, making the man a complete mystery to most people.

Lately, the brunet was starting to feel a mystery to even him, Squall's best companion. Didn't help at all that _he_ was himself so infatuated with Squall. What a fucking awesome mess..

Noise from the kitchen startled him in the middle of his frantic pacing. He sneaked to the door, fearing -and somehow hoping- it was Squall. If it was the other then things would get either very cold of very heated. Either it would be, it would be very uncomfortable. But it was something he should get thru with. Taking a deep breath Cloud stepped into the kitchen.

"Hi Sq.. Sora." Cloud halted dumbly at the door, recognizing the person standing there. Sora turned away from the coffee he was making and grinned widely.

"Seeing things already, are you? I might have the same messy mop above my head but I'm no Squall, that's for sure. Too short and too gorgeous to look like a scruffy old nerf herder." Cloud wished he hadn't opened his mouth at all and slumped against the door frame.

"Yeah, I'm just slowly going mad with desire and blah blah blah. Give it a rest, will you? I'm not in the mood for bickering with you now." Cloud commented wearily and Sora looked baffled for a moment.

"Whoa, calm down." He smiled genuinely. "I know why you're so grumpy so I won't hold your words against you, even though I am _deeply_ hurt!" Cloud winced a little. "Honestly, you didn't expect no one to notice your "little" scene? Not to mention the yelling in the back room.. should've seen Axel, his face was so red it matched his hair when people heard his name said -or yelled, whatever-."

"..." Cloud had turned rather pale. "I.. think I should just not.. to go there anymore. In fact, I should just leave, right now, before Squall wakes up."

"Why the fuck would you do that for?" Sora cocked one eyebrow. "It's perfectly normal to argue with people, even with high volumes. Scruffy there won't be mad at you long, not if you go all puppy eyed before him.. I know that man so well I'm predicting he'll get down here and won't even mention the matter. He might be a little missy pissy-pants for a while, but hey.. domestic peace and all that shit? Just wait and it'll go away." The boy shrugged, smiled and looked like everything actually was so simple as he had put it.

Cloud wasn't so sure. He knew himself and knew how Squall reacted to him. It was a fucking mine field where he was walking, no more talking about thin ice.

* * *

><p>The whole day had been an insane whirl of snappy remarks and go to hell glares and uncomfortable silences. Cloud's head was aching and he wanted to punch himself for being a stubborn ass and refusing to go and swallow his pride up to ask forgiveness. It was simply impossible task.<p>

Squall was pouting, avoiding the subject, keeping himself busy with nonsense and all the while looking most uncomfortable. They had avoided each other the whole day until it was getting dark outside again. Cloud had tried actually to leave but Sora had turned out to be a miserable brat after all and had blocked his way out every time.

Squall was sitting gloomily on the couch at the moment, idly playing something, looking like a impenetrable mountain of ice. Cloud wondered what went on in that head of his. Was the other really mad still or was he just pretending not to care? He guessed it was the latter one. Squall usually did that; didn't go around caring much about other people, unless it had become too personal for him to discard easily. Pathetic, really. They both were brilliantly pathetic with this nonsense.

Twins were, as usual, smiling at the older men, and as Cloud usually put it; it looked more like they were hunting predators, watching their prey from distance rather than just smiling genuinely for something. At a moment like this, he had an urge to punch the brats. Too bad he was unwilling to get pressed with changes of child abuse..

It really did tear his nerves, to know his own limits and his want to break them and yet, not being able to get himself in action. He breathed deeply and prepared to say something but as he glanced at Squall -the living ice berg who was bigger than the one that sank Titanic- and swallowed his sad attempt of an apology. The words felt like they were to choke him. Oh shit, he needed some air, right now.

Cloud left the room, not really paying anymore attention to anyone else.

The cold wind and flurry of snow greeted him as he stood outside on the street and he buried his hands to his pockets. The air felt like a cooling towel on his face, calming his senses. He was thinking too much again and overloading the brain capacity he had left. All those wonderful excuses and buts spun around like a merry-go-round gone mad. He felt his insides twisting uncomfortably and then he sneezed.

That was the moment when he noticed the door behind him had closed and he was outside. Without a jacket. That jacket where the keys were. Cloud let out a frustrated sound and tried the door, in vain of course. Now what he would do? All the apartments were too high to knock on the windows and the snow wasn't enough moist to form balls for throwing. He cursed heavily and shivered. Not only was he the most miserable person existing at the moment, he would freeze to death too on top of that! Would put an end to his moping, though.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to discard the cold that was slowly turning him into an icepick and to concentrate on how he was going to figure himself back inside. Not that it was any better there. Warm, at least.

The door clicked once and Cloud jerked his head up to yell that someone to keep it open. The words froze to his lips as he saw Squall standing there, looking as surprised at him. Second click and the door was shut. The blond had a nagging fear there were no keys inside those pockets..

"Aren't you freezing?" Squall's voice came as a bigger surprise to Cloud, who felt a hot wave rushing thru him.

"Does it look like I'm bathing in sunshine? Of course I am freezing!" He couldn't help it, the words came out as a sharp snap.

"Should have taken your jacket with you." The brunet's face twitched a little as if he was again getting irritated.

"Well, I wasn't thinking when I left." Squall's face had 'Do you ever?' written all over it and trying to ignore it as much as he could, Cloud scoffed. "I wasn't planning on staying here very long. The door closed behind me and I have no keys." Was that a glimpse of amusement he saw?

"You ought to think more before you act." Squall murmured finally, after a long -incredibly uncomfortable- silence. That was probably as close as the other would get of accusing him again straight about yesterday. Cloud shuffled at his feet, staring the snow under his boots.

"I know. I.." The words stuck to his throat again and he swallowed hard. ".. you know." He grimaced at the effort. "..Sorry. For all that." There, it was finally out! He had managed to blurt the apology out of his ten times cursed mouth! It was a moment of pure nervousness when he had simply NO idea how Squall was going to react.

There was silence between them again, either spoke or moved much in a while. Cloud peeked at the other, standing there so tall and graceful. Well, at least he didn't look so pissed off anymore. Squall was measuring the street, like it was the most fascinating thing in the whole world when Cloud sneezed again.

"You really are an idiot. And a naturally stupid blondie. Let's get back inside." But there was no more anger in the brunet's voice and that was more than enough to warm Clouds insides. All the anger and merrily taunting thoughts vanished with the wind down the street. He was able to breath again without trouble. Squall was trying his pockets and looking worried.

"Please don't tell me you don't have keys either..."

"I'm sure they were inside here!" He glanced at the blond looking most displeased. "I can assure you, there is no other place I would keep my ke.."And then, at the same time it seemed to hit them both. The answer to this.

"Those bastards! Are they trying to kill me!" Cloud spat out as they figured it couldn't really be anyone else than the brainless, motherless, million times cursed gits inside.

"I wouldn't be so surprised.." The brunet grunted and wrinkled his nose. "They are so grounded for the next century when I get back inside." Cloud definitely agreed but was turning so frozen he preferred to use his energy to keep warm and let out only a small squeal. Squall looked at him properly. "Goddamn it.. Get in here, stupid." He opened his jacket for the other to press against his torso.

Cloud was too cold to argue with this invitation and dashed forward as he saw a chance of getting his numb limbs somewhat warmer.

It took just about ten minutes for Sora to open the door and have the nerves to laugh manically at their slightly blue appearances. The boy ran off before either of them to got to the evident revenge part.

Twins got grounded for the next month and Squall had a bad cough. Cloud, however, survived without any sign of illness, which was a small miracle.

* * *

><p><em>Oh gosh, I'm so truly sorry this is taking so long. But I guess every author has had their moments (more like constant draining..) of empty heads.<em>

_And thank you all for the comments and everything! All is well appreciated and cherished, it's just me that sucks at answering most of the time. Trying to tie up the story since it's been a little bit scattered all over lately.. Fluff coming up, I promise!_


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